A Senate panel Tuesday asked the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to simplify procedure for sending remittances by overseas Pakistanis to encourage them for using legal channels for sending money to their families.
The Senate Standing Committee on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development, which met with Senator Hilal-ur-Rehman in the chair, also asked the SBP to make easier the process for reopening of the closed bank accounts of overseas Pakistanis, and also constituted a subcommittee to further look into the matter of closed bank accounts of overseas Pakistanis due to biometric verification system.
Briefing the committee on the matter, Deputy Governor SBP Jameel Ahmad said that overseas Pakistanis are given choice of giving identification documents for verification instead of biometric verification due to difficulties in coming back to Pakistan for verification and complaints are not received any longer of any problem.
He said that the overseas Pakistanis facing the problems of blocked bank accounts are given the alternate arrangements to biometric verification under which they are required to provide copy of the documents such as passport, visa, computerized national identity card (CNIC), NICOP, etc, to operate their accounts as usual.
He said that the banks have confirmed that in most of the cases, upon provision of the required documents, these accounts are unblocked on immediate basis. However, any delay in this regard is mainly due to time difference of jurisdiction, he added.
The committee members were of the view that the people are not aware of the proposal and many banks are not accepting these documents for verification, forcing the overseas Pakistanis to send money through alternate channels such as Hawala/Hundi instead of using the formal legal channels.
The committee was also given a briefing about the rejection of Pakistani postgraduate medical degree by Saudi Arabia and deportation of Pakistani doctors and steps taken by the government to overcome the situation.
Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistani, Syed Zulfiqar Abbas Bukhari told the committee that the matter is of accreditation and the Saudi government's move is not Pakistan specific. He said that the Saudi government keeps updating their qualification criteria and this was also result of the process for all the countries alike.
The Foreign Office officials told the committee that only four Pakistani doctors were deported after the Saudi government's new accreditation policy and the damage has been controlled by effective diplomatic efforts for the remaining 80 to 120 doctors.
The committee was further informed that the government is in touch with Saudi side for holding a delegation level meeting or a teleconference to resolve the matter.
The committee discussed the draft bill to amend the Immigration Ordinance, 1979 moved by Senator Sassui Palijo, asking for giving consular protection to overseas prisoners.