Active Visitors: 17 Total Hits: 29299227 Since June, 2007
Pilgrims have to respect Saudi laws
A DELEGATION comprising family
members of five Pakistanis detained recently in Saudi Arabia on charges
of heroin smuggling had a meeting with Saudi Ambassador Ali Awad Asseri
who assured them that there would be fair and impartial investigations
by the authorities concerned to ascertain the truth. The family members
maintained that these people were duped by the sub-agent of the travel
agency into wearing shoes that contained heroin.
A controversy has been generated due to arrest of these persons who were
arrested with a total of four kilograms of heroin on their arrival in
Saudi Arabia. Some politicians are strongly agitating the issue and they
have raised it in Parliament as well urging the Government to take it up
with the Saudi authorities. This is not the first and the only incident
of its nature as in the past as well a number of Pakistani nationals or
passport holders were arrested in the Kingdom on similar charges. It
would be only after investigations that it would become clear whether
they were carriers or innocent victims. But instead of attaching undue
expectations from Saudi Arabia, we should take corrective measures to
prevent recurrence of such incidents every now and then. We have a
narcotics control agency and a strong network of intelligence agencies
and police but regrettably culprits manage to board flights or ships
with contrabands and their arrest on arrival at their destinations
causes great embarrassment to the country. Saudi Arabia has its own laws
and a good reputation of implementing them in letter and in spirit
without any discrimination. It is because of this that crime rate in the
Kingdom is negligible and incidentally those involved in crimes are
often foreign nationals. We, therefore, must not expect them to ignore
these crimes and instead strengthen and streamline our own systems to
prevent departure of such persons to foreign countries. There are
reports that smuggling and drug-trafficking takes place in active
connivance of the officials deputed at the airports. Therefore, a
comprehensive investigation should be carried out here in Pakistan to
ascertain how five people with four kilogram of shoes managed to dodge
the system and who was behind the plan.
