RAWALPINDI: Jailed former prime minister Imran Khan on Wednesday expressed gratitude to Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for releasing thousands of Pakistani prisoners, his lawyer quoted him as saying.

His remarks came a day after Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar informed the Senate that the kingdom freed a total of 7,208 Pakistani prisoners between 2019 and 2024.

During Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman’s visit to Pakistan in February 2019, then Prime Minister Khan requested the release of Pakistani prisoners. Days after the historic visit, the crown prince ordered the release of a large number of Pakistani prisoners.

A day earlier, Dar, who also holds the portfolio of deputy prime minister, informed the upper house of parliament that the foreign ministry was developing a comprehensive consular policy through stakeholder consultations for Pakistanis incarcerated in foreign jails.

In a written reply, he added that while the policy is being formulated, Pakistan continued to protect its citizens abroad through established international frameworks.

“Our consular officials visit Pakistani nationals who are in prison or detention and arrange legal representation for them,” the foreign minister said.

Giving an overview of the prisoners released from the Saudi prisons, Dar said that 545 prisoners were released in 2019, 892 in 2020, 916 in 2021, 1,331 in 2022, 1,394 in 2023, and 2,1240 in 2,130 further informed to the house. was difficult to ascertain the actual number of prisoners released from foreign prisons due to continuous influx of inmates.

Currently, over 23,456 Pakistani nationals were serving prison terms in various countries across the globe, he added.

He further said that there were 12,156 Pakistani nationals in Saudi jails, 5,292 in United Arab Emirates (UAE), 811 in Greece and 338 in Qatar. It is pertinent to mention that most of the prisoners had settled illegally abroad, while other Pakistani nationals imprisoned abroad were detained for minor crimes.

Speaking on other matters today, lawyer’s Faisal Chaudhary said the PTI founder had said he would continue to raise concerns over the 26th Amendment.

Speaking to reporters outside the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, the lawyer raised questions regarding the charges against the PTI founder in the GHQ attack case, saying all the witnesses recorded the same testimony before the court in the high-profile case.

Last month, the jailed PTI founder was indicted in the GHQ attack case.

Khan’s lawyer was of the view that the PTI’s human rights petitions were pending before the Supreme Court, adding that they wanted the Constitutional Court to hear their petitions at the earliest.