ISLAMABAD: Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser has written a letter to his Malaysian counterpart seeking legal relief for Pakistani expatriates in Malaysia.

In a correspondence with Chairman House of Representatives of Malaysia Mohammad Arif Md Yusof, the speaker said a large number of Pakistani expatriates were working in Malaysia and were an asset for Pakistan.

“Unfortunately,some of them are in prison owing to small crimes and most of them are not able to obtain legal counsel for addressing their cases.” The speaker sought legal relief for them.

He acknowledged that Pakistani diaspora in Malaysia formed the largest Pakistani expatriates’ community in Southeast Asia and they also made up the sixth largest group of foreign workers/nationals in Malaysia. “Unluckily, there is also a large number of Pakistanis imprisoned in Malaysia for petty offences,” he added.

While referring to the recent visit of Prime Minister Imran Khan to Malaysia, Mr Qaiser said both the countries needed to enhance bilateral cooperation and high level coordination in all spheres.

“That visit of Prime Minister of Pakistan was the agreement between the two sides to promote high level bilateral exchanges and to collaborate with each other at operational level,” he said.

The speaker also expressed felicitation over the forthcoming visit of Prime Minister of Malaysia Dr Mahathir bin Mohammad as chief guest at the Pakistan Day parade on march 23.He hoped the journey of mutual cooperation in the field of education, defence, health and trade would continue.

Published in Dawn, March 18th, 2019