Saudi Arabia is neither holding nor deporting Pak expats: FO

ISLAMABAD: The government in Saudi Arabia is neither holding nor deporting Pakistani expatriates across the Makkah region, the Foreign Office reassured the Pakistani community on Saturday.

The Pakistani community in the Kingdom, says the Ministry, should remain calm and not to pay attention to a fabricated social media campaign. “The Consulate General in Jeddah has been in contact with the relevant Saudi authorities and they have been informed that routinely illegal expatriates are apprehended and deported from all nationalities. The exercise continues with varying intensity throughout the year”, said the Foreign Office while quoting a statement from the Consulate General.

It appears a fake campaign on social media had sent shock waves within Pakistan’s community. “The assumption that it is a Pakistan specific drive is completely incorrect. Propagation of such news through the social media has created unnecessary anxiety, giving it a misleading political angle. It is in the interest of the deep rooted Pak-Saudi brotherly relations that such baseless and irresponsible twist is avoided at all costs”, pointed out the statement.

It appears that the recent drive has been initiated for last one week focusing mainly on the expatriates without Iqama or expired Iqama, illegal workers, and those working not in their place of Iqama or out of declared profession. “In this connection, around 400 Pakistanis have been brought to the Shumaisi Deportation Centre near Makkah over the last three days”, clarified the statement.

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are in constant contact and the Consulate General of Pakistan is taking all possible measures, within local rules and regulations, to protect the interests of the Pakistani community.