The Pakistani embassy is seeking assistance from the Saudi and Pakistani governments to identify nationals overstaying in the kingdom after entering the country on Haj and Umra visas.
The embassy has not ruled out the possible involvement of immigration officials and tour operators, who facilitate the entry of thousands of Pakistanis to the kingdom, especially during Ramazan and Haj, in order to beg.
Pakistan ambassador Abdul Aziz Mirza said: "I have written to Islamabad to take stringent measures to discourage people, who come on Umra visas and stay beyond the expiry of the visa. I have also offered to provide interpreters at airports to help in identifying such people," Arab News quoted Mirza as saying.
He said that the size of the problem was evident from the fact that some 13,500 Pakistanis, who had overstayed their Umra visas, were deported from January to June this year. And according to a statement made by Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri, more than 51,000 Pakistanis have been deported from Saudi Arabia during the last two years. Of that number, the overwhelming majority has been overstayers.
Last week, 136 Pakistanis were deported and most of them were Umra overstayers. "I suspect that Umra operators are involved in the racket. I also suspect the complicity of immigration officials ... it is indeed alarming," the envoy said.
He said in many instances, children abducted from different parts of the country were flown forcibly to the kingdom to work as beggars. More than 250,000 Pakistanis visit Saudi Arabia for Umra every year.
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