Prisoners freed as part of deal with Saudis
Saudi Arabia has agreed to free more than 2000 Pakistani prisoners as the kingdom’s crown prince concluded a visit its nuclear-armed ally.
Mohammed bin Salman yesterday promised to deliver ‘‘whatever we can do’’ for Pakistanis living in his country, after a personal plea from Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan.
The mass amnesty followed the signing of Saudi investment deals worth more than US$20 billion (NZ$29.2b).
The crown prince’s visit is seen as sealing deepening ties between the two nations at a time when Khan’s government faces a painful balance of payments crisis. Cash injections from Riyadh and the United Arab Emirates have kept Pakistan’s economy afloat in recent months, and allowed Khan to delay a bailout from the International Monetary Fund.
The release of Pakistani petty criminals is seen as a political gift to Khan. Millions of Pakistanis work in the Gulf Arab states, and their wages are a critical source of foreign currency for Pakistan’s economy.
The fate of the thousands who are locked up across the Middle East is a sensitive issue in Pakistan, where there is a perception that the prisoners are mostly poor labourers who have no legal recourse.
Khan reportedly raised the issue on Monday, asking the prince to look into the hardships of Pakistani labourers in the kingdom and to ‘‘look upon them as your own people’’.
The visit was the first leg of a wider Asia trip for the prince, who was due to arrive in India yesterday. – Telegraph Group