Pakistan tracks citizens arrested in Europe

The Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs was informed on Friday that an electronic system was in place with the European Union under which Islamabad received prompt information whenever a Pakistani citizen was arrested in a European country.

During a meeting of the committee, chaired by its chairman Irfan Siddiqui, the foreign secretary said that the current government's policy was to work for the welfare of overseas Pakistanis and in this regard, the government had issued special instructions to the ministry.

At the beginning of the meeting, committee member Sherry Rehman of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) complained to the chair that the agenda of the meeting lacked some important topics related to the current foreign policy, including the issue of Afghanistan.

During the meeting, details about Pakistani prisoners abroad were presented. Foreign ministry officials said that there were 22,100 Pakistanis imprisoned worldwide.

The highest number of prisoners, 10,400, was in Saudi Arabia, and over 5,000 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The issue of media reports that India wanted the review of the Indus Waters Treaty was also discussed in the meeting. Rehman said that reopening the agreement might be detrimental for Pakistan. She said that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the first person to use water as a weapon.

The issue of disrespect shown by the Afghan Consul General towards Pakistan's national anthem also figured in the meeting.

The foreign secretary informed the committee that Pakistan had lodged an official protest, summoning the Afghan chargé d'affaires and registering a complaint through its embassy in Kabul.