In a humanitarian gesture, the Bahrain government on Sunday pardoned 250 Indians serving sentences in the Gulf nation during the maiden visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
According to the reports, the decision was announced during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s maiden visit to the Gulf country as part of his thee-nation tour.
Prime Minister Modi has expressed his gratitude to the Bahraini leadership for the Royal pardon, PMO India tweeted on Sunday.
“In a kind and humanitarian gesture, the Government of Bahrain has pardoned 250 Indians serving sentences in Bahrain,” the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) tweeted.
https://twitter.com/PMOIndia/status/1165503570264784896?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
According to official data, 8,189 Indians are lodged in various prisons in foreign countries, with Saudi Arabia having the highest number at 1,811 followed by the UAE at 1,392. It was not clear how many Indians are lodged in jails in the Gulf kingdom.
Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Bahrain marked the first by an Indian Prime Minister to the country. During his stay, Modi held a bilateral meeting with his Bahraini counterpart, Prince Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa, following which a string of Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) was exchanged in the fields of culture, space, solar energy and on the roll-out of RuPay card.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also been bestowed upon with “The King Hamad Order of the Renaissance” by the Kingdom of Bahrain in Manama on Saturday.
Earlier on Saturday, PM Modi was also honoured with the ‘Order of Zayed’, the UAE’s highest civilian award, as a mark of appreciation for his efforts to boost bilateral ties between the two nations.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday had emplaned for Paris for the first leg of his three-nation visit to France, the UAE and Bahrain from August 22 to 26.