ISLAMABAD As many as 17 innocent Pakistani citizens, who have been languishing in a Yemeni jail in pathetic condition for the last two years, are waiting for a miracle for their rescue. To add insult to injury, the big bosses of Ministry of Foreign Affairs have turned a deaf ear to their plight. It has been learnt that 14 Pakistanis were caught by American forces from high sea two years ago and later they were handed over to Yemeni forces, however according to international law the persons should be handed over to the country of their origin. It has also been learnt that they are facing life threats in Yemen. Sources informed that US Navy captured Pakistanis 300 miles away from Mumbai. First they tried to hand over these unfortunate Pakistani fishermen to Dubai, however, upon their refusal they were handed over to Yemeni authorities. After their handover by the US naval ship, the Yemenis tried them for trafficking narcotics and convicted them. Interestingly, the Iranians arrested along with Pakistani were acquitted by Special Appeals Court because of intervention from Tehran, while the sentences of Pakistanis were upheld. The judge, while releasing the Iranians, had held that the arrests were made outside Yemens territorial jurisdiction. It seemed that American pressure played a vital role to uphold sentences of Pakistanis who were also arrested outside Yemen. When contacted on telephone, Deputy Head of Mission at Pakistan Embassy Ahmed Ali Sirohey confirmed this and said people of town told him that Pakistanis were innocent; they were substituted with Yemeni smugglers who paid huge bribe to prison officials, police and judiciary. Families of innocent fishermen alleged that due to weakness of both Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Pakistans Ambassador to Yemen, they were awarded 25-year sentence. According to diplomatic and Foreign Office sources, officials of Pakistans Embassy in Yemen had written many letters to bosses of Foreign Office urging them to take up this issue with Yemens Ambassador in Pakistan. They had also asked the Foreign office for financial help to provide legal access to poor Pakistanis in Yemen. But Foreign Office never responded. When contacted on Tuesday, Deputy Head at Pakistans Mission in Yemen also confirmed this. I have written many letters to the Foreign Office to call Yemeni Ambassador and ask him to approach his government in this connection, he said. According to sources, 15 Pakistanis are languishing in Yemeni jail on drug charges but international law states people caught in high seas should be handed over to the country of the origin. The prisoners could not fight their case well because they were not supported from Pakistan and the court awarded sentence of 25-year to 11 persons and six persons got death sentence. It is pertinent to mention here that some Iranians who were arrested on the same charges were freed because Iranian Foreign Office put pressure on Yemeni Ambassador and got them released. The sources further informed that a Pakistani prisoner was languishing in Aden without any charge levelled against him and the Foreign Office was not approving money for lawyers. Currently, 70 Pakistani prisoners are languishing in different jails in Yemen. One of the prisoners died because of inhuman conditions in Mahra Jail. Pakistans Embassy is convinced about the innocence of the prisoners. Im fully confident that these poor fishermen, having very little resources, were wrongfully involved in the drugs cases, Deputy Head of Mission at Pakistan Embassy Ahmed Ali Sirohey told this correspondent from Yemen on telephone on Tuesday evening. Apart from Foreign Offices indifference to Pakistani prisoners plight, lack of funds with Pakistani mission to defend them in the courts is another great hurdle in their release, the sources further informed. According to diplomatic sources, Foreign Office did not provide money to its mission in Yemen to provide legal access to Pakistani prisoners. A source from Foreign Office told TheNation that a request of $20,000 from the Pakistani mission for providing legal assistance to the prisoners was received but it is yet to find a favourable response. It is learnt that most of the prisoners are illiterate and dont understand Arabic. They were not provided translators and were told to affix their thumb impression of the documents given to them, which were later submitted to the court as confessional statement. On this, the group was convicted and sentenced to 25 years imprisonment after a summary trial. A source in Pakistans Embassy in Sanaa alleged that while the police and judiciary allegedly colluded in getting this group convicted, the Yemeni Foreign Office delayed consular access for the prisoners. The allegations levelled by Pakistanis against Yemeni officials were that they took bribe for deceitfully getting them involved in narcotics smuggling cases and were corroborated by a survey done by an anti-corruption body in Yemen, which indicated that suspects avoided charges by bribing police or judicial officials. One of the internees in this group died because of the poor conditions in the jail. Some of other prisoners suffering from various illnesses, the detainees alleged, are being denied treatment. Although Pakistans Embassy has been regularly exhorting the Foreign Office to take up the matter with the Yemeni Ambassador in Islamabad asking him to ensure justice for imprisoned Pakistanis, yet sources informed the matter was never forcefully taken up. In another case, Somalis pirated Pakistani-flagged fishing boat and shot one of fisherman during rescue operation. Bilal khan was admitted in a French military hospital. The French called Embassy from Djibouti to take Pakistani citizen. The authorities of Pakistan Embassy in Yemen wrote to Foreign Office for approval of money for transporting charges that were not delivered in time. This made Deputy Head of Pakistans Mission to go there and arrange his send-off while he has to spend money from his own pocket, informed sources. When asked Ahmed Ali Sirohey confirmed this and said, I did it and spent 1,900 dollars for all things. The Ministry refused to approve and asked to bear it myself. When France can spend money on treatment and ticket, why can we not issue only passport and pocket money to our citizen? he questioned. A spokesperson of Foreign Office said Pakistani authorities were in close contact with Yemeni authorities and that the matter would be solved soon.