ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s top judge on Thursday took notice of the miserable condition of about 3,000 Pakistanis in detention in Saudi Arabia, ordering officials to submit a report within a week.
Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani took notice on an email sent by an overseas Pakistani, Ali Khan, who is a resident of Saudi Arabia.
According to a Supreme Court press release, the email was registered through the recently established expatriate wing of the Human Rights Cell of the apex court.
In the email, Khan says that about three thousand Pakistani citizens arrested are languishing in a Jeddah deportation centre for the past three months. Khan claims that a few detainees have even died in the detention centre.
The exit and deportation documents of the detainees are to be prepared by the Pakistani embassy, which, Khan says, is not taking the matter seriously.
The email asked the chief justice to take notice of the matter to save the lives of the detainees by ordering their deportation without further delay.
Taking notice of the email, the chief justice ordered today that a “report be called from the secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs within a week.”