Arrests in Saudi
Arabia not specific to Pakistani nationals: FO
Statesman Report
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday rejected the impression being created by social media about any campaign by the Saudi government to detain and repatriate Pakistani nationals, saying every year, before the month of Ramazan, the Saudi authorities routinely carried out an exercise against illegal expatriates and illegal workers especially in the Makkah region.
“The assumption that it is a Pakistan-specific drive is completely incorrect. The campaign is not Pakistan-specific; Saudi authorities have arrested nationals of several countries as part of this drive,” Foreign Office Spokesperson Aisha Farooqui, in her weekly press briefing said.
She said the last year’s acquittal of the self-confessed mastermind of the blasts, Swami Aseemanand, and other accused only reconfirmed the culture of impunity that the perpetrators of terrorist attacks enjoyed under the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) / Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led political dispensation in India. She said as the current week reminded the painful tragedy of Samjhauta Express Train occurred 13 years ago, the families and the loved ones of the 68 victims of that terrorist attack, including 40 Pakistanis, still awaited justice.
“The inordinate delay in justice for these victims, despite the availability of evidence, illustrates the unwillingness of the Indian government to hold the perpetrators to account for their barbaric action,” she commented.
Regarding the human rights situation in IOJ&K, the spokesperson said on the 200th day of the lockdown on Thursday, the people in the IOJ&K continued to be deprived of their fundamental freedoms; their right to liberty, health, education and food as well as faced continued restrictions on their freedom of expression.