ISLAMABAD: Taking stern note of bureaucratic inertia impeding public
documents’ attestation, a sub-Committee of the Senate body on Interior
instructed Foreign Ministry to do needful for release of Pakistanis detained by
Somali pirates.
The number of Pakistanis detained by the Somali pirates from various ships
they had hijacked has risen to alarming 30, Foreign Office told a three-member
Working Group of the Senators appointed by the Senate Standing Committee on
Interior.
“Captain Waseeh Hussian, Muhammad Muzzamal, Ali Rehman, and Syed Alam are
among 23 captured with Egyptian ship MB Swayze wherein ransom negotiations are
still on,” a senior official of the Foreign Office told the sub-Committee
meeting at the Foreign Affairs Ministry. With 17 Pakistani on board a UAE ship
hijacked by the Somali pirates on March 28, total number of Pakistanis falling
victim of piracy have reached 30, he added. According to Foreign Office there
are some Pakistanis on board the Nigerian ship hijacked by the Somali pirates.
According to the Ministry officials, the Pakistani envoys in the countries
concerned were actively participating efforts involving ship owners and other
private parties for the release of Pakistan nationals and other detainees.
Earlier the sub-committee with Senator Talha Mehmood in chair was annoyed
over the treatment Foreign Office had given out to the relatives of three
Pakistanis detained in Saudi Arabia in some murder case. According to the chair
of the sub-committee, it had to convene on Tuesday only due to the fact that the
attestation desk of the Foreign Office had asked the Pakistani’s relatives to
get written instructions from the Senate of Pakistan.
The sub-committee was however appreciative of the work done by Director
General Foreign Office Muhammad Aslam who took up the case with the Saudi
Ambassador in Pakistan. Through the efforts of Pakistan’s Foreign Office, Saudi
government had agreed to release the accused upon payment of Diatt (blood money)
to family of the person killed in Saudi Arabia. Both the killers and killed were
Pakistanis in this case. Now the relatives of those three Pakistanis detained in
Saudi Arabia in this particular murder case were denied attestation of a Session
Judge’s decision in this regard.
While talking to the Media after the meeting, Senator Mehood requested the
Saudi government to treat Pakistanis in their country with respect as they treat
other expatriates from America or France.
Earlier he also instructed the Foreign Office to look into another case
wherein a Pakistani was mistakenly arrested and was not released even after a
court cleared him. “A relevant Saudi court has cleared that Pakistani but to my
information he was still not released,” the Senator said.
Later on the sub-committee also visited the offices of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs. Senator Haji Adeel a mbemer of the committee was inquisitive to
know about the rules and regulations concerning to attestations by the Foreign
Office. Special Secretary Foreign Affairs Haroon personally apologized for the
inconvenience caused by the attestation desk and undertook to provide the
documents and byelaws required by the committee before April 30, 2011. Online
