ISLAMABAD – Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis andHuman Resource Development (OP&HRD) Syed Zulfikar Abbas Bukhari Thursdayhinted early release of Pakistani prisoners languishing in the United ArabEmirates (UAE)’s jails in minor cases.
“Pakistani inmates will be released and repatriated soon,” he revealed onThursday.
He said the government was in contact with the UAE authorities to getPakistani prisoners released at the earliest especially those involved inpetty offenses.
On the direction of Prime Minister Imran Khan, the ministry and itssubsidiary departments were making all out efforts and discussingpossibilities with the authorities concerned abroad to ensure the releaseof inmates locked up in foreign prisons on minor crimes, he said.
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Zulfikar Bukhari said recently his ministry had also facilitated the returnof 28 Pakistani drivers stuck up in Iraq and over 400 in other countriesdespite the airspace was being closed intermittently.According to official sources, the efforts had been intensified after therecent visit of the Special Assistant to Prime Minister Zulfikar Bukhari tothe emirates where he met with Dubai Police Chief Main Normal AbdullahKhalifa Al Mari in Dubai.
During the visit, both sides agreed to form a joint committee for resolvingthe issues of Pakistanis languishing within the UAE jails and bringing backthose inmates involved in petty crimes at earliest.It was also agreed thatthe committee would swap the data of Pakistani prisoners in future toensure the timely repatriation of those who would have completed their termin the UAE’s jails.
