Saudi interior minister expected in Islamabad Monday with Pakistani prisoners on talks agenda

ISLAMABAD: Saudi Interior Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Naif will arrive in Islamabad on February 7, with repatriation of Pakistani prisoners among other affairs on the agenda, the Pakistani interior minister said on Tuesday.
Last month, Saudi Arabia ratified agreements that help both countries streamline the repatriation of prisoners and measures to counter human and drug trafficking.
The treaties were signed during Prime Minister Imran Khan’s visit to the kingdom in May last year.
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said his country was trying to bring back Pakistani prisoners from wherever they were.
“Tomorrow, Saudi Interior Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Naif is arriving on the invitation of the interior ministry. And this for interior ministry, this country and repatriation of our prisoners in Saudi Arabia will be a good decision,” Ahmed said at a press conference in Islamabad.
“We are inviting interior ministers of different countries where our people are in prisons. It is as per instructions of the prime minister.”
The minister said the government was making efforts to bring back Pakistanis languishing in prisons of brotherly Muslim countries for not being able to pay fines imposed for minor offenses.
“We are taking this to the cabinet that people who are languishing in our brotherly Islamic countries due to fines, their release should be managed by paying their fines,” he said.
Ahmed said Pakistan had already secured release of many prisoners from Turkey, adding that officials from Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait would also be visiting the country soon.

Saudi interior minister expected in Islamabad Monday with Pakistani prisoners on talks agenda