The 700 Pakistanis arrived in Saudi Arabia towards the end of 2011 and since then have not been allowed to work or travel outside the Kingdom.
Of the 700 Pakistani workers stranded in Saudi Arabia, for one, the recent notice taken by President Asif Ali Zardari of their situation, has come too late. One of the workers stranded in Saudi Arabia, for over a year in a visa fraud, died on February 10, after falling from a roof while working.
The Pakistani workers, who went to Saudi Arabia a year ago, have been left stranded in the kingdom — swindled by a Turkish construction company they thought they would be in the employment of — and face deportation. According to a report, the workers said they paid a large fee to get their visas issued, which turned out to be illegal. As a result, their passports were confiscated as per Saudi law. The workers are justified in demanding that they not be deported as they have committed no wrong; in fact, they have been cheated and deserve to be reimbursed by the fraudulent company whose managers have been arrested. In this regard, Pakistani authorities should speak to their Turkish counterparts to try to work out a solution. However, some of the workers just want to come home.
Responding to the workers’ desperate pleas, the president finally took notice of the matter after a story published in this paper and, according to a worker, the Pakistani embassy in Riyadh has assured that it is now looking into the situation. Indeed, the government should do all it can to protect the rights of its workers so that their woes can be resolved, and in the case of the late Dost Swalay, his body can come home. Sadly, the Pakistan government has an abysmal record when it comes to migrant workers whose lot is a sorry one in the Gulf because they have few rights and little access to legal recourse. The Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis has done little to alleviate their miseries, though attempts are made to repatriate undocumented workers home now and again. Suffice to say, these efforts are not enough and more must be done.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 16th, 2013.
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Yes much needs to be done for the improvement of working conditions in Saudi Arabia There is no difference between an expatriate who just arrived and the one who is living here for the last thirty years. No privileges no extra benefits. You can be thrown out in a minute or jailed. This is not the only case. There is another matter which needs to be addressed. In Pakistan, it is customary to deliver a stolen thing to police if you happen to find it on road or somewhere. Here in Saudi Arabia it is a crime to pick up a thing which does not belong to you. Many respectable Pakistanis arrested and still in jails. Most of such cases happened with innocent Umrah people. When their relatives contact Saudi police they are informed that they have signed confessional statement. Whereas, innocent Umrah or Haj pilgrims informs that soon after his arrest they are compelled to sign a form which is all in Arabic and nobody there interprets in Urdu and he signs it in panic and in fear of police torture. Subsequently, it turns out to be Confessional statement. Human Rights Organizations must notice this plight of expatriates as well as visitors in Saudi Arabia.
Good suggestion. Why they should come back. If so then they should be compensated or provided change of sponsorship who soever wants to stay and work in Saudi Arabia. I have relatives in Riyadh who have informed that presently Embassy officials unlike past are very helpful to the Pakistanis and even the smallest excess by Saudi employers are brought into the knowledge of Saudi authorities and Foreign Office. Ambassador is holding open house session where every Pakistani is allowed to come and discuss his problem, Surprisingly, Saudi journalists also attend and publish stories of glaring violations of human rights by their own Saudi nationals. But I agree that much needs to be done for improving working conditions but at the same time we should give credit to our Embassy for all the good they have done.
"The workers are justified in demanding that they not be deported as they have committed no wrong; in fact, they have been cheated and deserve to be reimbursed by the fraudulent company whose managers have been arrested."
They should not face prosecution per Saudi laws because they did not commit a crime. However, that does not entitle them to live in Saudi Arabia without valid work permit.
The Turkish company that cheated them should be made to refund the amount to the workers and prosecuted for fraud. Sadly due to lack of enough job opportunities, such frauds continue to occur in both India and Pakistan. As recipients of large remittance flows from Guld countries , our governments should be far more responsive to the legitimate needs of our citizens living in these countries.