THE state’s failure to devise legal safeguards and policies for consular protections is frequently reflected in news about Pakistanis in foreign prisons. A Senate committee was told on Monday that 17,321 Pakistani nationals are currently incarcerated abroad. Most of them are in prisons in the Middle East, whereas 85 languish in Afghanistan’s jails. Community welfare attachés from Dubai, Doha and Kuala Lumpur reported 3,523, 619 and 499 detainees, respectively, with some details about their condition as undertrial prisoners and convicts.

Unfortunately, the state’s hollow directives confirm that the political will to protect helpless, often uneducated Pakistani citizens, who are at the mercy of distant courts, facing trial without consular access and legal representation, is absent. Such an approach can lead to serious sentences. But even a dark past — at least 183 nationals were executed overseas between 2010 and 2023; 171 of them in Saudi Arabia — and an equally bleak future for the jailed have not resulted in any pangs of conscience. According to Justice Project Pakistan, Pakistanis imprisoned outside their country endure violations of due process because of biased translators, extended detentions and lack of access to lawyers. This abandonment has to be addressed as there are legal regimes that extend beyond our borders, obligating the government to defend the fundamental rights of Pakistanis anywhere in the world. The Vienna Convention on Consular Relations states that when a citizen is in trouble abroad, relevant embassies must be informed as well as granted the right to meet, communicate and provide legal support. International human rights law limits capital punishment to “the most serious crimes”, which excludes drug infringements. In this context, the government needs to respond with immediate implementation of the Uniform Consular Protection Policy, while signing more treaties with states so that the convicted can serve their prison terms in this country.

Published in Dawn, August 13th, 2025