More than 20,000 Pakistani nationals were deported from Gulf countries between March 1 and July 13, with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates accounting for the overwhelming majority of the cases, according to official figures presented in Pakistan’s National Assembly on Thursday.
The data, provided by the Narcotics Control Ministry, sheds light on the scale of deportations as Gulf authorities cited security concerns as well as immigration and criminal violations. The ministry’s data also highlighted cases involving Pakistanis who were detained or deported for filming or uploading videos and other material related to Iranian attacks in their cities amid the ongoing conflict between Iran and the United States.
The ministry said deportations were carried out for a range of reasons, including illegal entry, overstaying, begging, drug-related offences, security concerns and forged or improper documents. More than 6,000 deportations were recorded under the broad category of “Others”, with no further breakdown provided by the ministry. Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry told lawmakers that the figures do not represent every Pakistani who left the Gulf during the period. He said the data covered only people who were formally detained by authorities and deported after Pakistani missions issued emergency travel documents.
