‘90% of beggars’ arrested abroad belong to Pakistan: Senate Standing Committee on Overseas Pakistanis

As many as 90 percent of beggars arrested in foreign countries belong to Pakistan, The Dawn reported.

The Senate Standing Committee on Overseas Pakistanis was informed on Wednesday that a large number of beggars from Pakistan were moving abroad, which has further spurred “human trafficking”.

This was revealed by External Affairs Ministry Secretary Zulfikar Haider during a debate in the Senate panel on the issue of skilled and unskilled labor leaving the country.

Haider told the committee that a staggering “90 percent of beggars” arrested in foreign countries were of Pakistani origin, Dawn reported.

He further said that many beggars took advantage of pilgrim visas to travel to Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq.

In addition to this, he noted that a significant number of pickpockets were arrested at holy places and were identified as Pakistani nationals.

Meanwhile, Haider said Japan has now become a new destination for such visitors, according to Dawn.

He further emphasized Pakistan’s historic role in exporting skilled labor and expressed optimism that the country’s foreign remittances would increase as professionals travel abroad.

He further said that Saudi Arabia now preferred skilled labor over unskilled people, according to Dawn.

Hasan also noted that around 50,000 engineers in Pakistan were unemployed.

“India has reached the moon, while we stumble every day,” the senator added.

It also reported that approximately three million people are in Saudi Arabia, 1.5 million Pakistanis are in the United Arab Emirates and 0.2 million in Qatar.