Zardari takes notice of 700 Pakistanis stranded in Saudi Arabia

President asks authorities to submit report in three days.

President Asif Ali Zardari took notice of 700 Pakistani workers stranded in Saudi Arabia because of an employment-fraud involving a Turkish construction company and its Saudi employees, Express News reported on Wednesday. 

The Pakistani workers are trapped in the kingdom, deprived of their passports and not allowed to work.

President Zardari has asked concerned authorities to submit a report in three days.

Earlier, The Express Tribune had reported that the workers arrived in Saudi Arabia towards the end of 2011 and since then have not been allowed to work or travel outside the Kingdom.

A Turkish company, MAAPA Construction and Trade had hired these Pakistani workers through different travel and recruiting agencies during 2011 after payment of a hefty sum against visa issuance. The stranded workers revealed that these agencies included Al Jawad recruiting agency and Iqra recruiting agency, among others.

The visas issued to the Pakistani’s were in fact illegal. As the fraud came to light, a case was registered at Emara (Governor House), Riyadh and the passports of the 700 workers were confiscated by Governor House Police. The case is currently under process.