ISLAMABAD: More than 3.27 million Pakistanis, which roughly make 1.3 percent of the country’s total population, have been sent abroad in five years — from 2019 till August 2024 — for employment through government channels, it transpired from the data shared by the federal government with the upper house of the parliament.
These workers were sent abroad through the Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment, and Protectorate of Emigrants, from 2019 till last month, the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development (MOPHRD) informed the Senate on Friday.
The said workers were sent abroad on the demand of the host countries, read a written reply from the ministry, shared in the Senate session during question hour, to a question posed by Masroor Ahsan from Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).
The senator inquired from the ministry about the number of persons sent abroad for employment by the government, during the last five years, along with country-wise break-up.
The data shared by the ministry seemed questionable as it appeared to be marked with glaring factual inaccuracies. A list of 251 countries given by the MOPHRD, where, according to the ministry, Pakistani workers went for employment purposes, included none other than “Pakistan” itself.
In this context, the official data shared by the ministry with Senate suggested that some 50 Pakistanis went to “Pakistan” for employment in 2019.
The total number of the said Pakistanis, who proceeded abroad, through the government channels, as provided by the ministry, was 3,276,861.
But the area-wise break-up suggested that 3,272,659 Pakistanis travelled abroad, from 2019 till last month, for employment through government channels.
The tally of people who went abroad from Punjab was recorded at 1.79 million, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (1.02 million), Sindh (255,537), Azad Jammu and Kashmir-AJK (124,900), Islamabad Capital Territory- ICT (32,046), Balochistan (28,119) and Gilgit-Baltistan-GB (5,436).
In one official list shared by the ministry with Senate, the highest number of over 1,829,709 Pakistanis went to Saudi Arabia, followed by United Arab Emirates (708,268) and Oman (265,496), in over five years.
However, another official list the ministry shared with the house suggested different numbers for the same three countries; Saudi Arabia (1,829,907), UAE (707,416) and Oman (265,455). The discrepancies in the statistics related to several other countries were also found in the ministry’s official data.
In addition, as many as 33,652 Pakistanis went to the United Kingdom and 3,820 Pakistanis went to the United Sates in the corresponding period, the ministry’s reply suggested.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024