NA question hour: Over 4,000 Pakistanis languish in Middle Eastern jails, says Khar
Of the prisoners, Saudi Arabia detains the Pakistanis at 1,312, which include 47 women. UAE detains the second highest number.
“Around 314 Pakistanis are in jail in Kuwait and 41 were imprisoned in Iraq,” she added. The minister further informed lawmakers that as many as 368 Pakistanis in these countries were facing five-year sentences, 78 were faced 10-year sentences and 60 faced 15-year sentences.
Afghan Refugees
Meanwhile, the Minister for States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON) Engineer Shaukatullah told the house that as many as 1.65 million registered Afghan refugees were still living in Pakistan and only 600,000 of them were residing in refugee camps.
“These refugees are to be repatriated on a ‘voluntary’ basis by the end of this year as per the tripartite repatriation agreement and the present policy,” said the minister.
Outlining their distribution among the provinces, he said over a million were living in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 334,327 in Balochistan and 181,803 in Punjab. Around 15,000 were living in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.
The minister added that over 400,000 refugees were living in Peshawar alone while 176,799 refugees lived in Quetta.
Leather Exports
Minister of State for Commerce Abbas Khan Afridi told the house that Pakistan earned $1.6 million during 2011-12 by exporting different leather products. The exported items included leather, raw hides and skins, leather footwear, leather manufactures, leather gloves, apparel and clothing.
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I beg all of you. This is not the time for such things. Gazans need help. We must save them from annihilation by Jews! Is all our talk of ummah merely a ruse to get help for ourselves? It can't be. Send money! Volunteer! Let's unite the push the Israelis into the nearest ocean!!
This shows that how weak Government of Pakistan is in front of the Middle East countries.
When we bow in front of other countries just for the sake of begging money, how we can expect that we will get respect?
Our Ambassadors and Consul Generals are not good for any thing. They are deputed in the foreign countries to enjoy their status, get hefty salaries and perks. After all in foreign countries they are individually called as "YOUR EXCELLENCY".
What else they need?
And why they should be interested in providing Counsels to people who are languishing in jails in the foreign countries.
Had it be American Government, the Middle East countries would not have dared to keep even one American National in the jail.
This is why Pakistanis prefer to take dual nationalities instead of remaining full Pakistani.
Unfortunatly all these people are not in US detention, had they been they would instantly become poster childs for JI, JUI etc.
The largest number of these Prisoners belong from KPK since people from Punjab and Karachi mostly go to Europe while KPK is the largest provider of laborers for Middle East but the unfortunate thing is that KPK have not been able to have a sincere government for a longer time for their people so nobody cares. Also Where is Nawaz Sharif and PMLN who claim to be the best friends of Saudi Shiekhs and enjoy their hospitality all the time but they never raise this issue of the jailed people from Pakistan?