Govt seeks to bring back wanted persons from across world: Afridi

 

ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Interior Shehryar Afridi has said that Ministry of Interior is deliberating upon bringing back to those persons from other countries wanted to law enforcement agencies in various cases.

In a reply to supplementary question raised in the Senate, he said Pakistan has extradition treaties with 33 countries while bilateral and multilateral relations would be used to work out the method for arrest of wanted persons in consultation with relevant stakeholders.

He said the government is committed to ensure good governance as per its 100 days plan and those sitting outside the country after violating the law of land would not be spared.

In response to a starred question to get former prime minister Shaukat Aziz extradited to face cases against him in the courts, he said Ministry of Interior has not received any request for extradition of Shaukat Aziz from any department so far.

The Interior Ministry in a report on Sep 13 revealed that at least 11,803 Pakistanis were serving jail terms in foreign countries.

According to the report, as many as 8.8 million Pakistanis are living abroad and 11,803 of them are in different jails. Most of the jailed Pakistanis, around 2,937, are in Saudi Arabia.

The report said 10,000 Pakistanis are residing in India and 582 of them are in prisons. It said 177 Pakistanis are in Afghan jails, while 186 are in Irani jails.

Earlier, Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari had informed the Senate that a holistic approach will be adopted to provide full legal and humanitarian assistance to the Pakistani prisoners languishing in foreign jails.