–PM’s aide says Saudi companies won’t fire Pakistani workers for next three months
ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistan Zulfi Bukhari on Wednesday told a parliamentary body that in wake of coronavirus outbreak, Pakistan has convinced Saudi authorities to extend visas of Pakistanis till the end of December.
Briefing the Functional Committee of the Parliament on COVID-19, Zulfi said that he had held talks with Saudi Minister Abdullah bin Naseer through video-link who assured him that visas of Pakistanis would be extended.
He said that Saudi companies would also not lay off Pakistanis for the next three months. He said that Pakistan was in talks with the UAE government and all possible measures are being taken to facilitate the stranded Pakistanis.
He said that Pakistan has also requested the UAE authorities to arrange payment for repatriation of labourers and payment of their dues.
“We are also negotiating with Qatar government and trying to negotiate for payment of dues of the Pakistani workers. PTI government has sent 1 million workers abroad while the figure of laid-off people is not more than 10,000,” he added. He said that Pakistan has also asked Qatar Airways to transport stranded Overseas Pakistanis from the US, adding that three flights would be allowed every week.
Chairing the session, National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaisar directed all stranded Tableeghis, Zaireen and Overseas Pakistanis who have tested negative or have completed quarantine period must be immediately repatriated to their homes by federal and provincial governments due to advent of Ramzan.
He commended the job done by the committee led by Shehryar Afridi and directed the committee to take up the issues faced by the journalist community and get them resolved. He also directed MoFA to facilitate for Ramzan package for laid-off overseas Pakistanis.
Afridi briefed the Committee on steps taken to repatriate the Tableeghi, Zaireen and Overseas Pakistanis. He said that over 10,000 Tableeghi and Zaireen have been repatriated domestically while rest are being facilitated by the authorities concerned.
He said that the focal persons of the provinces need to respond proactively to the committee while the Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Foreign Affairs were taking lead in facilitating the return of the trapped religious travellers.
Briefing the committee on the issues faced by the journalist community, Afridi said that a delegation of Parliamentary Reporters Association (PRA) had submitted him a charter of demands and there was a need to facilitate the working journalists with safety kits. He said that the government should take immediate measures to ensure that journalists are not laid off while the salaries of some journalists need to be paid pending for almost 11 months.
Afridi said that PRA has also requested that the prime minister may also announce a package for the journalist community who have been affected due to the pandemic. He said the prime minister may launch a data collection application for working journalists while proper legislation may also be made for the protection of jobs of the working journalists.
Briefing the committee, Minister for Foreign Affairs Shah Mahmood Qureshi briefed the committee on measures being taken to facilitate the return of stranded Pakistanis and foreigners. He said that around 46,743 stranded Pakistanis have registered themselves with Pakistani missions abroad, out of which 2,054 are tableeghis mostly in Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Somalia, Uganda and Chad.
He said that 5629 Overseas Pakistanis have repatriated while 428 inmates have also been brought home from jails abroad.
“We need to devise a national strategy to deal with the issue of laid-off Pakistanis abroad. We are repatriating people in a regulated manner. Our foreign missions are being directed to facilitate the return of overseas Pakistanis,” he added.
He said that during Ramzan, Sehri and Iftar for stranded Pakistanis would be a major challenge which the MoFA is trying to facilitate. Religious Affairs Minister Noorul Haq Qadri said that SoPs need to be followed by returning Tableeghis and Zaireen.
Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan said that over 7313 overseas Pakistanis have been repatriated through 17 flights. He said another 20 flights would bring home another 3370 stranded overseas Pakistanis soon. PIA has given a major contribution in this regard, he concluded.
