ISLAMABAD: Over 21,000 Pakistani expatriates in the Gulf states have so far lost their jobs amid the coronavirus pandemic, Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Overseas Pakistanis Sayed Zulfikar Abbas Bukhari told Arab News in an exclusive interview on Friday.
“There were media reports that the United Arab Emirates alone had laid off more than 40,000 Pakistani workers after the COVID-19 outbreak which is completely wrong. In reality, 17,743 Pakistanis were laid off amid the coronavirus crisis in the UAE,” he said, adding that 1,245 Pakistani nationals in Saudi Arabia, 691 in Qatar, 600 in Oman, 500 in Kuwait, 387 in Bahrain and 200 in Iraq had been downsized until this week.
Bukhari hailed Saudi Arabia for ensuring job security for Pakistani nationals since the Kingdom issued a directive preventing companies from sacking Pakistani employees for three months during this difficult period.
“Unlike the UAE, where companies are laying off workers and sending them on forced and unpaid leave, Saudi Arabia is not doing that. Instead, it is giving them full salary,” he said.
The PM’s adviser continued that he had requested measures to support Pakistani workers in the Kingdom during his video call with Saudi Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Development Dr. Abdullah bin Nasser this week, adding that a lot of special measures were also being processed.
“Dr. Nasser informed me that Saudi Arabia had issued a decree through which Saudi companies will not lay off laborers for the next three months and all employees will continue to receive their full salary during the three-month period. The Kingdom also decided to extend the duration of entry and exit visas for Pakistani workers and Pakistani labor force will enjoy free of cost visa extension until December,” he said.
Asked about the repatriation of stranded Pakistanis, Bukhari said the government was moving toward regularizing flights to ensure the repatriation of all those people who wanted to come back to Pakistan.
“Majority of those who want to come back to Pakistan are from the Gulf region. Their number is about 90,000 so far. That is the reason we gave 17 flights to the UAE last week, and next week we are expanding flight operation for repatriation from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar along with the UAE where over 71,000 Pakistanis are waiting to come back home,” he said.
Bukhari informed that the government would increase the repatriation capacity from 2,000 people a week to 6,500 people a week before increasing it further to 8,000 in a few weeks.
On the issue of expensive air tickets by Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), he said that PIA had reduced the fare of its special flights by 20 to 30 percent in an effort to extend maximum relief to the country’s citizens stranded in the UAE.
“People have uploaded videos on social media, claiming that our embassy in the UAE is giving tickets in black with overcharged rates which is absolutely wrong. No Pakistani embassy is involved in such an activity. However, there can be travel agents who may be overcharging to exploit people who want to return to Pakistan.”
When asked about his role in mismanaging the return of pilgrims from Iran, Bukhari reiterated his stance that he had no role in allowing them back into the country.
“One should simply think about it a little: Do I have the power to open the country’s border which requires five or six different departments to coordinate? Only a prime minister can exercise such authority and order the opening of border,” he clarified.
“I have sued the people who wrongly blamed me and now the case is in court. They played political gimmickry and will now pay the price,” he added.
Asked about a World Health Organization (WHO) report claiming that about 46 percent of Pakistan’s COVID-19 cases had travel history to Iran, Bukhari said: “Zaireen [or pilgrims] who have become the reason for local spread of the virus are those who came back from Iran by air and not those who entered Pakistan through the Taftan border.”
On the number of overseas Pakistanis who lost their lives to the pandemic, he said that his ministry was collecting information but did not have the exact figures.
“Many Pakistanis have died due to the coronavirus but we do not have the exact numbers. We are trying to collect the data but different countries are not providing us the breakdown of the nationalities of COVID-19 victims,” he said, adding that PIA had brought back 17 dead bodies from the UAE during the last few weeks.
“Next week, we will bring back dead bodies from Saudi Arabia as more than 10 bodies are stuck there. We have requests from Italy and other European countries as well, and we will respond to them whenever possible. All of these individuals may not have died due to the coronavirus, but PIA will bring maximum number of dead bodies back without seeking charges,” Bukhari added.