Saudi Arabia has deported at least 5,033 Pakistani beggars to the country, including 369 from five other countries, in the past 16 months.
The information was shared by the Interior Minister, Mohsin Naqvi, in the National Assembly in a written reply to the question raised by Pakistan People’s Party parliamentarian Sehar Kamran.
The official data provided by the minister shows 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. As many as 4,850 Pakistani nationals faced deportation from these countries in the year 2024, whereas 552 have returned to Pakistan this year.
The question asked for the data for the three years, however, the minister only provided data from January 2024.
The breakdown of the data suggested most of these deported individuals belonged to the Sindh province. A total of 2,795 belonged from Sindh were deported on the charges of begging, whereas 1,437 people belonged to Punjab.
According to statistics, as many as 1,002 people from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 125 from Balochistan, 33 from Azad Kashmir, and 10 from Islamabad are among those deported from the six countries.
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After Saudi Arabia, the highest number of Pakistanis deported is from Iraq. It is noteworthy to remember that a large number of people from Pakistan visit Saudi Arabia and Iraq for religious purposes. At least 247 people have been deported from Iraq.
A similar concern was raised by the United Arab Emirates with the Pakistani authorities. The UAE took some strict measures by restricting the issuance of visas to Pakistanis. The UAE has deported 58 individuals on begging charges during this period.
Pakistani authorities are consistently facing the issue of begging by nationals in foreign countries. Authorities affirmed they are taking rigorous steps to clamp down on the mafia running these groups. FIA offloaded several passengers from the flights on suspicion of begging.