Pandemic hit export of Pakistani workforce to Gulf countries: ministry

ISLAMABAD: Export of Pakistani workforce to the Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC) has declined over the past few years mainly due to the outbreak of pandemic Covid-19.

Details into this account was shared by the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development in Question Hour of the National Assembly of Pakistan on Friday.

More than 100,000 permissions granted by the Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment (BE&OE) could not be materialised because of the outbreak of the pandemic, the ministry said.

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Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MNA Faheem Khan had inquired from the ministry about declining proportion of Pakistani workforce in the Gulf States.

Responding to it the ministry stated that export of Pakistani workforce has been declining mainly because of the pandemic.

However, it stated due to diplomatic efforts and resumption of flights, an increase was seen in October and November as 24,545 and 42,902 immigrants were registered for GCC countries respectively.

Moreover, Gulfization Policy (preference for local workers) has also contributed to declining proportion of Pakistani workers in GCC countries, especially with regard to Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and United Arab Emirates (UAE).

According to details, a total of 1,026,291 overseas workers were registered by the BE&OE during the last three years for GCC countries.

The BE&OE registered a total of 588,379 overseas workers for the KSA out of which 119,330 were registered during 2021, 136,336 were registered in 2020 and 332,713 were registered in 2019.

Meanwhile, a total of 281,063 overseas Pakistan were registered by BE&OE for the UAE in three years including 16,171 in 2021, 53,676 in 2020 and 211,216 in 2019. Least number of overseas workers were registered for Kuwait as it registered only a total of 1,539 overseas Pakistani workers in three years for it including 1,398 in 2021, 15 in 2020 and 126 in 2019.

Moreover BE&OE registered a total of 69,301 Pakistanis for Oman in three years besides registering a total of 58,930 for Qatar during the same period.

Reasons behind dismal performance of Pakistan in Tokyo Olympics: Lack of proper governing structure due to non-accountability is leading to fake federations.

“Non-transparency in selection of athletes by the National Sports Federations (NSFs) is another reason for dismal performance by Pakistan in Tokyo Olympics.”

This was stated by the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination to a question of a lawmaker about reasons of dismal performance of Pakistan in Tokyo Olympics 2021.

The ministry stated that lack of sports infrastructure at par with the international standard and lack of sports facilities at grassroots levels are some other reasons behind dismal performance of Pakistan in sports. Hegemony of Pakistan Olympics Association (POA) in Pakistan is another reason behind it. Moreover the POA and NSFs are not playing their due role, the ministry observed.

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NA Session Prorogued: Earlier the session of the National Assembly was prorogued for indefinite period by the chair after just around 12 minutes’ proceedings.

The sitting of the House started on Friday under the chair of Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri. The chair asked the lawmakers to offer Fatiha for the deceased mother of PTI MNA Andleeb Abbas. The lawmakers of opposition benches started demanding floor on point of order. However, the chair said that their demands would be met after the question hour. PTI MNA Uzma Riaz in her question raised the point that the accused in the Noor Mukadam murder case had also made a rehabilitation centre. She was in process of asking her supplementary question that the lawmakers of opposition benches started raising their voices to point out quorum of the House. To it the chair prorogued the session for indefinite period.

A day earlier, the government had tabled two much debated bills in the National Assembly, the Finance Supplementary Bill 2021 and State Bank of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill 2021. The speaker NA, Asad Qaisar had assured the lawmakers belonging to opposition benches that they would be provided enough time to have debate on these bills.