SHAFAQNA PAKISTAN (Shia News Agency)
Number of Pakistanis has been beheaded in Saudi Arabia in smuggling charges. Only in 2014 almost 16 people were beheaded while in current year almost five Pakistanis have met the same fate. Increasing number of beheadings show growing problems of Pakistanis most of them are used as drug conduits in Gulf States. One of the major problems is that Pakistani government even does not care of such Pakistanis and never provides legal support convicts. The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that several Pakistani citizens currently incarcerated in Damman Prison in Saudi Arabia face death by beheading for allegedly trafficking drugs into Saudi Arabia. The Pakistanis in question, all hailing from poor families, were in fact forced to carry the drugs. In some cases the couriers have been directly forced into such trafficking after being abducted and in others family members have been held hostage for coercion to undertake the illegal act. The real drug traffickers, the master-minds, are well-known in Pakistan, and are associated with political parties, and allegedly have a nexus with the Saudi authorities, particularly in Dammam city itself. The drug lords operate openly in the two Pakistani provinces of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkha (KPK).
Saudi Arabia’s abysmal human rights record and harsh legal system has been the subject of much criticism, but Saudi Arabia remains adamant over its interpretation of the Shariah Law. If the global community cannot pressurise the government to change the system, they should at least be interceding in individual cases to mitigate the affect of this system. The Pakistan embassy and its consulates in Saudi Arabia have refused to help their own citizens. This is despite the detainees having communicated with Pakistani officials and provided the names of real drug racketeers that Pakistani authorities may wish to apprehend. The response received from the Pakistani embassy by the poor men facing death sentences is simply that the embassy cannot fight against their fate. Pakistan needs to provide proper legal support to these poor workers who are forced and threatened to involve in this murky business.
pakistan.shafaqna.com
