ISLAMABAD: An official of the Pakistan’s embassy in Jakarta on Monday met with Zulfiqar Ali – an Indonesian imprisoned Pakistani – to enquire after his health.
A Foreign Office statement said that the official stayed with Zulfiqar for over four hours and also met his family as well as his doctor. “Zulfiqar seemed to be in good spirit and his health problems were being attended adequately,” the statement said.
52-year-old Zulfiqar Ali was arrested in November 2004 in connection with a 300-gram heroine case in Jakarta. A co-accused in the case – Gurdip Singh – retracted his statement against Ali, saying the confession had been coerced from him.
His two appeals for judicial review, filed in 2008 and 2013, were turned down and he filed a clemency/mercy appeal with the Indonesian president. A human rights law firm – Justice Project Pakistan (JPP) – suggested the matter to be taken to the Indonesian government so the life of ‘an innocent Pakistani’ could be saved.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar told the Senate on Friday that the Indonesian government had stopped Zulfiqar Ali’s execution after the issue was taken up with the authorities in Jakarta.
Speaking on a point of order, he said the Foreign Office and the prime minister’s office intervened in the matter soon after the issue emerged. “Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is personally following the case,” Dar said.
