ISLAMABAD: Federal Ombudsman (FO) Secretariat has sought updated progress report from the Foreign Office and input of Ambassadors and High Commissioners of respective countries where Pakistani prisoners are languishing in jails.

Grievance Commissioner for Overseas Pakistanis to Federal Ombudsman, Hafiz Ahsaan Ahmed Khokhar also issued instructions earlier to the Foreign Office to design an SOP on the subject for providing legal and counselor's access to Pakistani prisoners who are confined in Jails all over the world.

The instructions have also been issued to make special visits to address their issues within legal limitations.

According to a report earlier submitted to Federal Ombudsman by Foreign Office, 8,835 Pakistanis were languishing in foreign jails.

It is our legal and moral responsibility to address this issue and provide a mechanism of legal and counselor's assistance to Pakistani prisoners in foreign jails on case to case basis, Hafiz Ahsaan said.

The matter is now fixed for hearing in the first week of January 2017, Hafiz Ahsaan informed.

Copyright APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2016