ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan has requested Saudi Arabia to take steps in order to facilitate the Pakistani workers who had returned to Pakistan after Covid-19 pandemic but have failed to go back to the kingdom due to the strict Covid related restrictions imposed by Riyadh.
The issue was flagged both by Prime Minister Imran Khan and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in separate meetings with visiting Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan al Saud on Tuesday.
The top Saudi diplomat visited Pakistan as a follow up of the visit undertaken by Prime Minister Imran Khan to Riyadh in May this year.
Apart from other issues, one of the agenda items for discussion during the Saudi foreign minister’s interaction with the Pakistani leadership was to seek an early return of Pakistani workers to S Arabia. Saudi Arabia is home to almost 2 million Pakistanis working in different fields.
Due to Covid-19 pandemic many Pakistanis returned to the country but they were unable to go back to the kingdom due to travel restrictions imposed by Riyadh.
In his joint news conference with his Saudi counterpart, Foreign Minister Qureshi said there are about 400,000 Pakistanis who have been waiting for the travel restrictions to be eased so that they could rejoin their work in the Kingdom.
“Noting the difficulties being faced by Pakistani nationals due to Covid-related travel restrictions, the prime minister underlined the importance of timely measures for facilitation of their return to Saudi Arabia,” said an official handout issued by the PM office after the PM’s meeting with the Saudi minister.
The tens of thousands of Pakistanis working in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries have been the source of precious foreign exchange.
We also discussed pressing issue of flight and visa restrictions & I requested the FM for his personal patronage in easing these restrictions for Pakistanis, especially our expatriate workers who are stranded in Pakistan due to the pandemic, and…