Pak govt paid Rs16 mln in fines to have 271 prisoners abroad released

The Pakistan Government paid Rs. 16 million for the release of 271 prisoners imprisoned in different countries.

The prisoners had completed their sentences on petty charges in the jails of different countries, but whose release was subject to their fines being paid.

The Foreign Office announced that 77 prisoners in Dubai were freed between May and June 2013 after paying a fine of Rs. 8.8 million.

According to the Express Tribune, during a recent meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Interior and Narcotics Control, the FO also informed that in April 2013, the government incurred expenditure for payments of lawyer's fees for the release and repatriation of 14 Pakistani fishermen from India.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs paid more than Rs. 1.3 million for one-way air tickets of 32 destitute Pakistanis for their repatriation from Kuala Lumpur in April, 2013.

One Pakistani prisoner in China, who had completed his 5-year sentence in May, 2013 for travelling on fake documents was released after the payment of fine of Rs1.6 million from the government exchequer, the report said.

Another Pakistani languishing in a prison in Nepal for carrying fake Indian currency, was freed in June 2013 after the government paid his fine equivalent to Rs. 461,386, it added.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs paid a stupendous amount of over Rs3.8 million in May 2013 to secure the release of four Pakistani prisoners in Saudi Arabia.

According to the report, during the year 2010-11, 92 Pakistani prisoners, 90 in the Gulf countries and two in Malaysia got released after the government paid for their fines and legal aid.

During 2011-12, Pakistan's missions in Kuwait, the UAE and Saudi Arabia, got 30 prisoners released after payment of fines.