Pakistani PM establishes commission to look into expats’ complaints against Riyadh embassy

ISLAMABAD: On the order’s of Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan, his office has issued a letter to initiate a formal inquiry against the country’s embassy in Riyadh, suspended outgoing Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Raja Ali Ejaz, and recalled several members of staff following complaints by expat Pakistani laborers working in the kingdom who said their embassy had mistreated them.
A letter in this regard from the prime minister’s office was seen by Arab News, and its authenticity confirmed by a source in the PM’s office and two of Khan’s close aides.
Ambassador Raja Ali Ejaz was ordered home pending an investigation into his work and that of six other employees of the Pakistani Embassy in Riyadh. Complaints against them had come from multiple expat laborers over recent months, Syed Zulfikar Bukhari, an adviser to Prime Minister Imran Khan, told media.
“The former Ambassador to KSA, Raja Ali Ijaz has been suspended, while all staff, who dealt with the public at the Pakistani embassy and consulates in KSA to be recalled and the process for their replacement initiated immediately by the concerned ministries,” the letter said, adding that the PM had set up a ‘Prime Minister’s Inspection Commission’ to inquire into the matter and submit its report within 15 days.
The committee has been tasked to look into “inefficiency” in the provision of services to overseas Pakistanis in Saudi Arabia, “extorting and fleecing” of expatriate workers and overseas Pakistanis and a failure to resolve problems of the Pakistani community. 
Raoof Hassan, special assistant to the PM for information and broadcasting, said the letter echoed what the prime minister had said in a speech on Thursday afternoon. 
“Prime minister has initiated an inquiry yesterday and this has been initiated due to lack of services delivery to overseas Pakistanis,” Hassan said. “PM is determined to clean the system and ensure smooth provision of services to all Pakistanis including expatriates.”
During the current fiscal year, Saudi Arabia remained the single largest contributor to workers’ remittances by sending in $690.4 million in March. The overall inflow from the kingdom during the fiscal year amounted to $5.7 billion followed by the UAE with $4.5 billion. There are over two million Pakistanis living in Saudi Arabia.
“I say this with sorrow that our embassy, the way they should appreciate these hardworking people, who put their sweat and blood into their work, and I know that these poor people sometimes work 12 hours a day, do extra shifts, save money to send to their families,” the prime minister said while addressing an event in Islamabad. “I found out that in Saudi Arabia, our embassy, did not give them the service, the way they should have taken care of our labor in Saudi, they did not do that.”
He added:
“Yesterday I set up a full-scale enquiry on this. I am opening an enquiry into the ambassador. I am recalling a lot of staff back to Pakistan. And when the enquiry’s results come, whoever is responsible, whoever mistreated our labor … I will take action against all of them.”
Khan praised Pakistanis abroad for always supporting Pakistan’s economy.
“Overseas Pakistanis have, over the years, kept our economy afloat,” he said, adding that he had been in touch with overseas Pakistanis for the past 50 years, since his cricketing days.
In a message to Pakistani embassies around the world, Khan said their “most important duty” was to look after the affairs of Pakistani laborers.