Daily Times

The Lahore High Court on Friday directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to submit an updated list of Pakistani prisoners repatriated from Saudi jails along with a report on the efforts made to ensure their repatriation since February 18, 2019, when the Crown Prince announced the immediate release of 2,107 Pakistanis.

The directions were given by Honorable Justice Ayesha Malik during the hearing of a petition filed by Justice Project Pakistan on behalf of ten Pakistanis on death row in Gulf countries. The petition prays to enforce the fundamental rights of Pakistani citizens facing execution in jails across the Gulf countries. The hearing was later adjourned for a month.

Last year on November 12, a list of 579 Pakistani prisoners released from Saudi Arabia was submitted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Lahore High Court. An analysis of that list revealed that less than five percent of those prisoners had returned after the crown prince’s announcement.

The rest had been repatriated prior to that. A research by Justice Project Pakistan shows that the number of overseas prisoners has increased by 26% since 2014. An increase in the number of Pakistanis imprisoned in Saudi Arabia was also recorded during the same period.

According to documents submitted earlier by the Ministry of Interior in the Lahore High Court, nearly 11,000 Pakistanis are languishing in foreign jails.

Thes destitute Pakistanis face the harshest punishments due to their lack of understanding of and assistance with the legal process, incapability to communicate directly with the court, and inability to produce evidence from Pakistan in their defence.

Despite these circumstances, there is no consular policy in place and the fate of imprisoned Pakistanis rests at the discretion of individual embassies. Sarah Belal, Executive Director of Justice Project Pakistan, adds:

“The lack of clarity on the repatriation of prisoners from Saudi Arabia is disappointing. Ramazan is less than two months away and it is an opportunity for the government to amp up its efforts to bring back these Pakistanis who have been waiting for the fulfillment of the promise made by the crown prince for more than a year now.”

Separately, the LHC on Friday directed to seal top departmental stores and bakeries in Punjab province over violating the court orders to abandon the use of plastic bags while it also barred the water companies from using plastic bottles.

The court said that a seven day time to implement the orders could be given to bakeries and stores if they submit an affidavit of implementing the orders within the stipulated time.

Heading the proceedings, Justice Shahid Karim said that if the businessmen are least concerned on the matter than they have no right to carry out their activities.

I am also issuing notices to the water companies using plastic bottles, he said and added that the world has already shunned the use of plastic bottles and have now adopted glass bottles for the purpose. The judge further said that in the next phase the court would ban the use of plastic material in the restaurants and bakeries. “The consumers raise a hue and cry over banning the plastic material but what they do not know is that the court is committed to eliminating these environment-hazardous products,” he said. The judge said that the masses have to change themselves to improve the things and adjourned the case proceedings for March 06.