The ministry of foreign affairs on Friday told the Lahore High Court that 9,476 Pakistanis were languishing in jails of hundred countries. A law officer said that the government took steps to provide legal aid to the citizens detained abroad. The law officer, however, sought more time from the court to present consular protection policy.
The court was hearing a petition of the families of Pakistanis imprisoned in the Gulf countries. The court ordered the ministry of foreign affairs to submit the report before the court by January 20 next. Hearing another identical petition about Pakistanis detained in US governed Bagram jail of Afghanistan, the chief justice directed the ministry to confirm by next hearing if there was any Pakistani detained in Bagram jail in Afghanistan.
Earlier, Barrister Sarah Belal of Justice Project Pakistan, representing the petitioners, argued that the guidelines previously submitted by the ministry could not be taken as comprehensive policy of consular protection. She also maintained that under the Vienna Convention of Consular Relations 1963, it was the responsibility of the host state to provide consular access to the nationals of the sending state. The Article 4 of Pakistan's Constitution also placed a duty on the government to protect the life and rights of its citizens at home and abroad, she added.
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