ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Friday told the Senate that a total of 285,980 Pakistanis were deported from Saudi Arabia during the last five years on various reasons.
In a written reply to a question by Senator Dr Jehanzeb Jamaldini, the foreign minister told that during the period from 2015 to 2019, 61,076 Pakistanis were deported from Riyadh while 224,904 were deported from Jeddah.
While giving year-wise break-up, Qureshi told the House that a total of 61,933 Pakistanis were deported from Riyadh and Jeddah in 2015, 58,689 in 2016, 72,594 in 2017, 56,947 in 2018, and 35,817 in 2019.
The foreign minister further told that the main reasons for those deportations included: expired resident cards; declared Haroob (absconder); overstayers, border crossing from neighboring countries; engaged in work/overstay on Umrah visa; working other than designated processions; Hajj without permission; theft; narcotics; and quarreling & ethical cases.
To another question by Senator Abdul Rehman Malik, Shah Mahmood Qureshi apprised the House that Pakistan airspace is not closed to Afghanistan and is open for over flight transit.
