 "Saudi Arabia has deported over 5,000 Pakistani beggars, interior minister tells parliament")
A total of 5,033 Pakistani beggars were deported from Saudi Arabia in the span of 16 months, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi told the National Assembly on Wednesday. The remarks from Naqvi came as a written reply to a question raised by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) MNA Sehar Kamran, Dawn reported.
In the written response, Naqvi noted that another 369 individuals have been apprehended for begging in five other countries, mainly in West Asia. The data provided by the minister showed that a total of 5,402 Pakistanis have been deported from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Malaysia, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) since January 2024. Whereas, 552 have returned to Pakistan this year.
Interestingly, Kamran sought data for the last three years, but the minister provided the details of the period starting from January 2024. According to the province-wise break-up, the data shows that most of those deported from these nations belong to Sindh province. According to Dawn, a total of 2,795 people from the province are among those deported from these countries on begging charges, whereas the number of such people belonging to Punjab stands at 1,437.
Saudi Arabia deported the largest number of Pakistani beggars
As per the data, as many as 1,002 people deported were from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 125 from Balochistan, 33 from Azad Kashmir and 10 from Islamabad. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has the highest number of Pakistanis repatriated from it. The second is from Iraq, where 247 Pakistanis were sent back home. Meanwhile, the UAE, which raised the issue with the Pakistani government, was third on the list.
It is pertinent to note that the UAE has imposed strict restrictions on visas for Pakistani nationals. Despite all the measures, the country has so far deported 58 such individuals during this period.
Meanwhile, in response to a separate question raised by Anjum Aqeel Khan of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), the interior minister informed the National Assembly that over one million “ illegal Afghans”, including those possessing Afghan Citizen Cards (ACC), had been repatriated since November 2023 under the Illegal Foreigner’s Repatriation Plan (IFRP).
“The IFRP has been approved by the federal government. Every sovereign state retains the right to deport illegal foreigners to safeguard its borders and national security," Naqvi said in the response, as reported by Dawn.
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