Senate panel greenlights Special Courts Bill

ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development Tuesday unanimously approved the Special Courts (Overseas Pakistani Property) Bill, 2024. The bill will help resolve issues faced by the overseas Pakistanis.

The committee met at the Parliament House here with Senator Zeeshan Khanzada in the chair.

Under the bill, special courts would be established to protect the properties of overseas Pakistanis. The special court judge would be appointed in consultation with the Islamabad High Court. The cases would be decided within 60 days.

In addition, Director General Bureau of Immigration and Overseas Employment (BE&OE) briefed the committee in detail on the overseas employment promoters with location and province-wise breakup. There are 627 promoters (24%) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 362 in Sindh (14%), five in Balochistan and 1,590 promoters (62%) in Punjab.

The committee also held a comprehensive discussion on the number of individuals sent abroad by the OEPs over the past five years with the country-wise breakup and nature of the job.

The committee was told that last year 859,763 Pakistanis went abroad while 422,487 expatriates went abroad till August this year. According to the data, 426,000 nationals went to Saudi Arabia in 2023, 245,000 by August this year, 229,000 to the UAE in 2023 and 56,000 till August 2024, 60,000 Pakistanis went to Oman in 2023 and 42,000 by August this year, 55,000 went to Qatar in 2023 and 21,000 in 2024, 15,000 Pakistanis went to the European Union in 2023 and 6,000 by August 2024.

The committee was further told that 286,000 nationals went abroad in 2021 and 829,000 in 2022.

The committee observed that the number of individuals sent abroad had significantly declined over the years. Senator Khanzada remarked that the reason behind this decline also was the tarnished image of overseas Pakistanis for their involvement in illegal activities. He emphasized that Pakistan’s image had been stained by certain individuals.

Additionally, the chairman of the committee highlighted the importance of reviewing complaints against the OEPs. Examining 138 complaints filed in 2023, he asked the ministry to provide the details of complaints submitted this year.

Secretary Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development emphasized that individuals residing abroad for more than six months had the legitimate right to be recognized as overseas Pakistanis. He also highlighted that serious efforts were being made to address the property rights of overseas Pakistanis, with actions to be taken within 15 days by the court. The committee chairman remarked that the UAE was not giving visas to Pakistanis and sought the details of persons whose visas had expired and how many were staying abroad illegally. The officials replied that they did not have the required data yet and were in touch with the FIA authorities on this matter.