ISLAMABAD: Over 12,000 Pakistanis are currently languishing in prisons worldwide, most of whom, around 59% have been kept captive in Arab countries.
In the previous five years, nearly 20,000 Pakistanis have also been freed from foreign captivity. The information was shared with the National Assembly by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a written reply to a question by Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) MNA Shamsun Nisa. As many as 12,080 Pakistanis are currently incarcerated abroad, according to the foreign ministry’s written reply.
Jailed in Arab lands
Around 7,195 (58.73%) of all Pakistani prisoners in prisons worldwide are being held in Arab prisons in the Middle East. The majority of Pakistani captives have been kept in Saudi Arabian jails. Approximately 3,100 Pakistanis are detained there, making up a quarter of all Pakistanis detained abroad.
In the United Arab Emirates, there are the same number of Pakistanis detained in prison. As many as 1488 of them contacted the consulate in Dubai, and 1 612 contacted the embassy in Abu Dhabi. The two countries with the highest population of Pakistani expatriates are Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Six hundred and seventy-two Pakistanis are detained in Iraq, 540 in Oman, 209 in Qatar, 208 in Bahrain, 104 in Iran, 55 in Kuwait, 12 in Jordan, 2 in Syria, and 1 in Lebanon, among other Middle Eastern nations. As many as 329 more Pakistanis are detained in Turkish jails.
Held across Subcontinent
According to the information ministry, 683 Pakistanis are held in India. Then there were 94 in Sri Lanka. Up to 31 Pakistanis are detained in Bangladeshi jails. There were 21 prisoners in the Maldives and 24 more Pakistanis in prisons in Nepal. There were only 13 Pakistanis imprisoned in neighboring Afghanistan.
There were approximately 151 Pakistanis in Malaysian prisons, 31 in Thailand, 6 in Indonesia, 3 in Cambodia, 2 in Vietnam, and 1 in Singapore. There were 16 Pakistanis detained in Japan.
The report said 239 Pakistanis are detained in China. Additionally, there were seven more in the Philippines.
According to data from the International Organization for Migration, Pakistanis were detained in Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Cyprus, and Egypt – nations in the Middle East along the busiest route for undocumented migrant workers (IOM).
Up to 586 Pakistanis are in Italy prisons. From there, immigrants disperse throughout Europe. There were about seven in Austria, two in Poland, one in Lithuania, and 119 in northern Germany.
Further to the northwest, four were in Sweden, seven in the Netherlands, 32 in Denmark, and two in Belgium. To the west, there were 153 in Spain – with an overwhelming tilt towards Barcelona over Madrid, three in Portugal, 109 were in France, and then in the UK, there were around 275 Pakistanis. Further to the west, two Pakistanis were languishing in Irish prisons.
