A total of 598 Pakistanis, deported by Oman for alleged illegal entry, returned on Friday aboard a ferry, officials said. They are expected to be freed after questioning, officials from the Federal Investigation Agency, which deals with immigration issues, said.
Thousands of Pakistanis seek work each year in oil-rich Middle Eastern countries. Officials said the returnees will be questioned to determine who sent them to Oman, adding the investigations will help them catch human smugglers. Many returnees complained of bad treatment at jails in Oman and said they were not given proper food in prisons for few months. "We travelled two days and two nights in a very pathetic position," several returnees said. The group was the latest in a stream of Pakistanis to be expelled from Gulf countries for entering or being there illegally.
Most of the returnees belong to Sindh and Punjab province, who said that agents had received from them over one hundred thousands rupees for sending them to Oman. Most of the deportees, who arrived by ship, appeared to be in a bad shape and complained of maltreatment during their imprisonment in Oman, officials said.
Their return was arranged by a local welfare group, the Ansar Burney Trust, which said many were lured by local people smugglers known as travel agents for jobs abroad. An official of the trust said that most of them were uneducated and sold their belongings, or had taken loans from friends to go abroad in search of a better life, but fell victim to the travel agents, who are hardly punished. Many are still languishing in Omani jails, the returnees said, adding that they would also be deported soon.