Saudi crown prince orders release of 2107 Pakistanis

By Islamuddin Sajid and Aamir Latif

ISLAMABAD/KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) - Saudi Arabia’s crown prince on Monday ordered the immediate release of 2107 Pakistani prisoners languishing in Saudi prisons.

The move came at the request of Pakistani Premier Imran Khan during a state visit by Mohammad bin Salman to the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, according to an official.

"As a sequel to Prime Minister of Pakistan request, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of KSA [Kingdom of Saudi Arabia] Mohammad Bin Salman has ordered the immediate release of 2107 Pakistani prisoners Saudi jails" Pakistani Information Minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said on Twitter.

In separate tweet, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi thanked the crown prince for the prisoners’ release, noting that the cases of the remaining Pakistanis prisoners would be reviewed.

On Saturday, Khan made a request to bin Salman that Saudi Arabia treat Pakistani workers in the country "as their own," to which bin Salman reportedly said he would do everything he could.

Khan later thanked bin Salman for the gesture, saying that the crown prince had "won the hearts of the people of Pakistan," after his remarks that he should be considered "Pakistan’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia."