Kuwait visa restrictions on Pakistanis to go soon

ISLAMABAD: The positive outcome of the just-concluded two-day visit of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to Kuwait will start coming up in the weeks to come, with the most important impact to be related to easing of stringent visa restrictions on Pakistanis.

The premier expects an early affirmative response on the visa issue from Kuwait in the light of his talks with the top most Kuwaiti leadership. He realises that the visa restrictions have affected Pakistanis very hard and that Pakistan would get substantial foreign remittances if the ban is dispensed with.

He discussed a host of bilateral, regional and investment issues with the Kuwaiti leadership, which was receptive for being beholden to him for his unequivocal support to Kuwait when the tiny Gulf state was invaded and occupied by its powerful bullying neighbour, Iraq of Saddam Hussain.

In the face of the invasion, the then Kuwait Amir had gone to Taif in Saudi Arabia. The prime minister had met him there as well to express Pakistan’s complete solidarity and backing to Kuwait. Senior Kuwaiti leadership never forgot his outright support at a time of distress and anguish. After Nawaz Sharif’s ouster in October 1999, the subsequent governments could not carry forward the excellent goodwill and relations that he had established with Kuwait. This did no good to Pakistan.

Every top Kuwaiti leader who had interaction with the premier during this visit specifically mentioned his special backing for Kuwait. “It was my duty,” he responded to everyone, and also mentioned that at that time some Pakistani leaders had opposed his initiative, but he had not paid any heed to their calls because of the justness of the Kuwait cause.

However, Pakistani expatriates in Kuwait feel extremely cornered and distressed due to the visa embargo for the past six years with the result that their number has constantly declined with chances of more decrease if this policy was persisted with. The previous government acted as a silent spectator to this state of affair.

According to available statistics, only 1,600 Pakistanis could get Kuwaiti visas in the last six years, which amply reflects the harshness of the sanction. While Pakistanis are now a little over one hundred thousand, having drastically come down when compared to their earlier tally, Indians are touching the one million mark. This reflects the capturing the job market of Kuwait by India.

When the premier announced during his address to the Pakistani Diaspora on the first day of his trip that he would forcefully talk about ending the visa curbs with the Kuwaiti leadership, he received a standing ovation from the hard-hit audience. This was the number one demand of Pakistanis living in Kuwait because they were faced with untold miseries for having divided families in some cases.

Even the children and spouses of those living in Kuwait had been refused visas. The overseas Pakistanis in Kuwait are also engaged in different charity work in Pakistan that shows the care they do for their homeland. Therefore, they expected of the prime minister to highlight their demand to the full and get it accepted by Kuwait.

Nawaz Sharif discussed the grave issue with the Kuwait Amir and prime minister, and the Amir ordered authorities to resolve it without any delay. For quite some time, the Pakistan Embassy in Kuwait too has this matter as the item number one on the agenda of its every meeting with Kuwaiti officials. But it has not been able to prevail upon the host to rethink its punitive policy.

It is told every time that there is no ban on issuance of visas to Pakistanis. But in fact a strict sanction exists, which is impinging hard on Pakistanis. More depressing is the fact that Pakistanis, who fail to get their families to Kuwait for non-availability of visas, finally decide to come back to their country, which keeps cutting down the number of Pakistani expatriates in Kuwait.

The prime minister explained to the expatriates his mega projects, which have either been completed or are close to completion, stressing that they will change the destiny of Pakistan. He lamented that successive governments just passed their tenures and were unable to undertake massive development projects.

Domestic politics remained a prohibited tree for Nawaz Sharif during his elaborate address to the Pakistani community, chat with a small media squad that accompanied him and elsewhere in Kuwait.