Islamabad: Officials from Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed senate body that there are currently total of 23,456 Pakistanis were in foreign prisons. Pakistani citizens are mainly in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Iraq, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, India and China, out of 15,587 are convicted and 7,869 are under trial.

Meeting of Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights was held here at Parliament House with Senator Walid Iqbal in Chair.

Senate Committee deliberated on matter of Pakistani citizens who are imprisoned or detained abroad, both convicted or under trial.

Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed inquired about MoFA’s initiatives to provide relief to these prisoners or establish a repatriation program. He highlighted that Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, announced release of 2,100 Pakistani prisoners during his visit to Pakistan at request of former PM Imran Khan. Committee accordingly sought information from MOFA about current status of prisoners whose release was agreed upon by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman as aforesaid.

At same time, Senator Walid Iqbal highlighted non-existence of Uniform Consular Protection Policy in light of government’s Constitutional duty to ensure due process of law for all citizens of Pakistan wherever they might be. Committee thereupon directed MOFA to formulate the Uniform Consular Protection Policy within next 90 days and procure government approval for its implementation.

On same subject, representatives of Ministry of Interior briefed Committee that Pakistan had entered into Prisoner Transfer Agreements with eleven countries, ten of which were fully effective and one was under process as it had yet to be ratified by foreign government. Copies of those eleven Prisoner Transfer Agreements were also presented before Committee. Committee observed that, while these were government to government agreements, their intended beneficiaries were citizens of Pakistan, therefore they should be easily accessible and publicly available to everyone. Accordingly, Committee unanimously recommended that all present and future Prisoner Transfer Agreements be placed on web-sites of Ministries of Interior, Human Rights, Overseas Pakistanis and Law and Justice.

Senate Committee was briefed by Chairperson of National Commission on Status of Women (NCSW) on state of implementation of UN-approved “Bangkok Rules” across Pakistan involving treatment of women prisoners and detainees. Chairperson NCSW, Nilofar Bakhtiar, stated that there are currently 13,065 women prisoners in country, with 12,258 women under trial, 767 convicted and 40 women on death row. She added that around 60 percent of total prisoners in Punjab are under trial. Moreover, NCSW played crucial role in arranging weekly family meetings and ensuring better facilities for women prisoners. Chairperson NCSW also highlighted before Committee NCSW had ensured that five of well-known imprisoned women political activists, namely, Dr. Yasmeen Rashid (289 days), Sanam Javed (289 days), Aliya Hamza (289 days), Fehmida Begum (269 days), and Ayesha Bhutta (195 days) continued to be treated in accordance with the Bangkok Rules.

Published in The Daily National Courier, February, 21 2024

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