MULTAN, April 19th: Another batch of around 204 Pakistani workers who were serving in Saudi Arabia arrived at Multan International Air port (MIAP) on Wednesday by a Saudi Arabian airlines flight DV-800 .They were deported by Saudi Government due to their involvement in different cases like over stay,serving without job permit. Some of them have been left to live on the breadline after not being paid for over a year by a construction firms .They were detained at immigration counter for verification of their nationality Later FIA authorities let 114 passengers go home qfter verification till 1230 PM. Remaining 90 were sent to FIA office for questioning.The stranded Pakistani workers said that the situation was increasingly becoming desperate for them after they were not paid salaries and their permits (iqamas) not renewed. It has learnt that these affected Pakistani workers in Saudi Arabia have not been paid salaries by their companies like bin-laden and redico etc for the last over a year, and their permits have not been renewed/issued for the last two years.These stranded penniless Pakistanis, most of them labourers, were living in Jubail RC camps 2 and 14 after they found it difficult to manage their daily expenditures without salaries.The non-renewal of ‘iqamas’ has made it impossible for them to work somewhere else or with other firms or owners as it was against the Saudi labour laws.Some of them told that they were facing the worst kind of employment exploitation. He said that they have got no assistance from the Pakistani embassy in the Kingdom despite repeated requests. They said that when they contacted the Pakistani embassy six months back, the officials told them that the computer system of the embassy had been hacked and once it was restored, the embassy will assist them.“It has been six months now but the embassy has done nothing for us, leaving us in the lurch in a far-off land,” they said with trembling voice.“Relatives of most of the affected Pakistanis have been paid Rs50,000 each under the prime minister scheme,” foreign office claimed. However, his claim was rejected by the affected Pakistanis, who told the mediamen, that relatives of only 5 to 7 people have got an amount of Rs10000 to Rs15,000 and not Rs 50,000.The FO spokesperson also said that these stranded Pakistanis have registered a case in local labour court, whereas the Pakistanis embassy staff was in contact with Saudi Ministry of Labour and Royal Commission as well as the administration of Redico to sort out the issue. They told that hundreds of Pakistanis are languishing in prisons in Saudi Arabia without committing any crime.They alleged that Saudi Administration was maltreating Pakistanis serving in Saudi Arabia.
