LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Tuesday expressed displeasure at the government for not devising a consular protection policy for the Pakistani prisoners abroad.

During hearing of a petition filed by families of citizens imprisoned in Saudi Arabia, Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah questioned a federal law officer as to how long foreign affairs ministry would sit silent on the issue.

The court had directed the government to prepare a policy back in January.

The law officer said the ministry could issue guidelines for Pakistanis living in Arab countries and ensure their access to the consular only.

Chief Justice Shah observed, “It appears that the government has adopted a policy of “no policy” on overseas Pakistanis in Arab counties especially.”

He observed the government should at least take a position on the matter of protecting Pakistani prisoners abroad.

The CJ directed the government to come up with a uniform consular protection policy by April 26 and also asked the foreign secretary to look into cases of Pakistanis imprisoned abroad mentioned in the petition.

Earlier, amicus curiae Advocate Sameer Khosa stated before the court that Pakistan had many steps at its disposal to protect its citizens from violation of their rights, including diplomatic reprisals, recalling ambassadors and providing funding in addition to consular access.

He pointed out the government had successfully intervened in cases of media persons Zaid Hamid and Moeed Pirzada.

Published in Dawn, March 15th, 2017