Close X
Thursday, January 16, 2025
ADVT 
International

'Islamophobic' Saudi Arabia Deports 40,000 Muslim Pakistanis, Citing Terrorism Concerns

Darpan News Desk IANS, 18 Feb, 2017 01:40 PM
    The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has expelled almost 40,000 Pakistani migrant workers in the last four months, local media has reported. 
     
    Over 39,000 people have been deported since October 2016 over visa violations and security concerns, the Saudi Gazette reported, citing unnamed interior ministry officials. As well as crimes including drug trafficking, forgery and theft, an unknown number of those removed from the country were suspected to have links to Isis and other extremist groups, the paper said.  
     
    The alleged mass deportations come after a year of strikes and other unrest in the kingdom due to unpaid wages following the oil market’s decline and subsequent blow to the Saudi economy. 
     
    Official Saudi statistics say that 243,000 Pakistanis were deported between 2012 - 2015. Mass deportations of migrant workers - which Human Rights Watch and other rights organisations say often involve illegal beatings and detainment in poor conditions - are fairly common. 
     
     
    2010 census figures show that 8.5 million of Saudi Arabia's 27 million strong population, or around 30 per cent, are foreign nationals. 
     
    According to a 2014 European University Institute report, there are approximately 900,000 people of Pakistani nationality currently employed in Saudi Arabia’s vast construction industry and other low-paid service jobs. 
     
    In Mecca in January, dozens of expatriate workers, mostly from poor Asian and Middle Eastern countries, were beaten and jailed over public protests against unpaid salaries that turned violent.
     
    While the Philippines and India have also seen hundreds of thousands of citizens returned home after lay-offs in Saudi Arabia, the deportation of Pakistani workers has been mainly driven by security concerns, the New Arab reported.
     
    Several prominent Saudi politicians, including Abdullah Al-Sadoun, chair of the security committee of the country’s Shura Council, have called for tougher screening processes for Pakistani nationals before they are allowed entry into the country.
     
    “Pakistan itself is plagued with terrorism due to its close proximity with Afghanistan. The Taliban extremist movement was itself born in Pakistan,” he said.
     
     
    Approximately 80 Pakistani nationals are currently in prison in Saudi Arabia charged with terror or security related offences. 
     
    In 2016, 35-year-old Abdullah Gulzar Khan, a Pakistani citizen who had lived and worked in Saudi Arabia legally for the previous 12 years, blew himself up in a suicide attack near the US consulate in Jeddah. No other injuries were reported in the incident. 
     
    Two Pakistani nationals as well as one Sudanese and one Syrian were also arrested for allegedly planning a terror attack on a football match between the kingdom and the United Arab Emirates in Jeddah’s Al-Jawhara Stadium last year.

    MORE International ARTICLES

    Indian Family Killed In Accident In New York After A Drunk Driver Makes Head-On Collision

    Chandan Gavai, and his parents Archana Gavai, 60, and Kamalnayan Gavai, 74, died when Gustave Geyer crashed into the family's car on Yaphank Middle Island Road in Long Island late Monday night.

    Indian Family Killed In Accident In New York After A Drunk Driver Makes Head-On Collision

    New Zealand denies visas to Indian students

    New Zealand denies visas to Indian students
    New Zealand has denied visas to thousands of Indian students who wanted to study in the country, a media report said on Friday.

    New Zealand denies visas to Indian students

    Indian-Origin Businessman Tarsem Singh Gets Prison For $6 Million Contract Fraud

    Indian-Origin Businessman Tarsem Singh Gets Prison For $6 Million Contract Fraud
    Tarsem Singh was sentenced by Washington Federal Judge Reggie Walton, who also fined him $25,000 and ordered him to pay about $120,000 in restitution, officials said on Wednesday.

    Indian-Origin Businessman Tarsem Singh Gets Prison For $6 Million Contract Fraud

    Celebrated Pakistani Philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi Passes Away In Karachi

    Celebrated Pakistani Philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi Passes Away In Karachi
    Celebrated humanitarian and Edhi Foundation Chairman Abdul Sattar Edhi passed away at the age of 92 in Karachi on Friday night, it has been learnt.

    Celebrated Pakistani Philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi Passes Away In Karachi

    Indian-Origin Minister Priti Patel Backs Theresa May For British Prime Minister

    Indian-Origin Minister Priti Patel Backs Theresa May For British Prime Minister
    Patel's backing came as May emerged as the clear front-runner in the race to take over from Cameron, with over half of the Conservative party's 330 MPs voting in her favour in the first round of voting earlier this week.

    Indian-Origin Minister Priti Patel Backs Theresa May For British Prime Minister

    Vijay Mallya Says Life Must go on, in Public Appearance at British GP

    Vijay Mallya Says Life Must go on, in Public Appearance at British GP
    Vijay Mallya, who is currently wanted in India over loan default cases related to the now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines, made a rare public appearance at the Formula 1 British Grand Prix practice session in Silverstone on Friday

    Vijay Mallya Says Life Must go on, in Public Appearance at British GP