Pakistan in contact with Israel over recovery of 16 missing persons: Sartaj Aziz

Sartaj Aziz tells Senate that govt contacting Israel indirectly through US and Jordanian embassies

ISLAMABAD: The government on Tuesday informed the Senate that it is indirectly trying to contact Israel through the embassies of US and Jordan in order to recover the 16 missing Pakistanis.

Advisor to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said that government is trying to establish contacts with Israel indirectly through the American and Jordanian embassies to verify and recover the 16 Pakistani nationals allegedly languishing in Israeli jail.

Senator Shahi Syed from the Awami National Party [ANP] had invited government’s attention to imprisonment of 16 Pakistani nationals in the prisons of Israel.

The Advisor said that the 16 Pakistanis had gone missing in 2009 when a merchant vessel MV Danny FII, carrying 83 passengers and crew, had capsized in the Red Sea.

"It has still not yet been confirmed that the missing Pakistanis are in Israeli jails,” Aziz said, adding that Israeli authorities have not responded to the issue as yet.