Around 6500 Pakistanis languishing in Saudi, UAE, other jails, Senate told

The ministry of foreign affairs informed the Senate on Thursday that thousands of Pakistanis were languishing in jails in the Middle East, mostly in Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, in reply to a query from Senator Bahramand Khan Tangi, said that approximately 6,450 Pakistanis were jailed during 2017-18 in Gulf countries.
Roughly, 2,970 Pakistanis were locked up in jails of Saudi Arabia, while those in the United Arab Emirates comes to about 2,600, Mr Qureshi said further explaining that 657 were in jails of Oman, 128 in Bahrain, 54 in Qatar, 38 in Kuwait and three in Yemen.
However, teams from the missions in those countries often visited their detained countrymen to provide assistance and maintain regular contact with their families, foreign minister stated, adding that missions also kept regular contacts with respective jail authorities regarding health, food requirements and legal assistance to prisoners.