KARACHI: Minister for Foreign Affairs Khawaja Asif said on Thursday that Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi will soon formally request the Indonesian President Joko Widodo to send the Pakistani prisoner locked in Indonesia back to the country on humanitarian grounds.
Speaking to Geo News, the foreign minister said Abbasi would request the Indonesian president to let the Pakistani prisoner in Indonesia, Zulfiqar Ali, complete his prison sentence in Pakistan.
“The prime minister is hopeful that the Indonesian president would not refuse and to send the expatriated solution on humanitarian grounds,” the foreign minister said.
Indonesian President will be visiting Pakistan on January 26-27.
According to Asif, it has been said that Ali is innocent and that the statements given against him have also been withdrawn.
Earlier, ailing prisoner’s mother had demanded the release of her beloved son, whose life expectancy was declared to be about three months since he is suffering from stage-four cancer in both lobes of the liver.
Earlier, the Indonesian government had informed Pakistani embassy in Jakarta that Ali would soon be executed over possession of 300 gm of heroin.
However, his execution was halted after Pakistani diplomatic authorities, rights groups and United Nations appealed to the Indonesian government to stay the execution on humanitarian grounds.