Discerning readers may remember that these deportations also come in the wake of reports that certain Saudi companies had failed to make payments to their expat employees, several thousand of whom were Pakistani. The situation was dire enough for the Pakistani government to set up an emergency fund to provide relief to these workers. The economic realities in Saudi Arabia have been changing of late with certain austerity measures being introduced for the first time in decades. There has been an anti-immigration push throughout the world of late, partly driven by a general economic downturn which makes local communities resentful to foreign workers who are accused of ‘stealing jobs’ and taking away a country’s wealth. In such a negative atmosphere it is easy for governments to push a nationalistic agenda by deporting expatriates to score an easy win with the people. It remains to be seen how Pakistan will respond to the deportations and wide ranging claims of criminal activity against Pakistani nationals that have been publicly disseminated by the Saudis.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 6th, 2017.
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