Over 500,000 Pakistanis deported in last 5 years

islamabad — Over 500,000 Pakistanis have been deported from 134 countries, including countries like Saudi Arabia, the UAE, India and China, in the last five years, according to a media report on Tuesday.

While it is commonplace for Pakistanis to be deported from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and a number of European Union member states, many smaller and lesser-known countries have also sent Pakistani nationals back for a number of reasons, the Express Tribune reported.

Some of the places where Pakistani nationals were deported from are countries like Laos, Togo, Port Louis, Liberia, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Botswana, Burundi, Madagascar, Malawi, Republic of Congo, Dominican Republic, Mozambique, Angola, and Ethiopia. In response to a question put forward by Senator Jehanzeb Jamaldini, the Interior Ministry placed before the Senate a list of countries from which Pakistanis have been deported and their annual breakdown from January, 2012 till June, 2017.

Of the 544,105 Pakistanis deported, 71,723 were expelled in 2012; 79,539 in 2013; 78,409 in 2014; 116,185 in 2015; 111,084 in 2016; and 87,165 in just the first six months of 2017.

Saudi Arabia topped the overall list, followed by the UAE, Oman, Malaysia, the UK, Turkey, and Greece.

India deported 12 Pakistanis in 2012; six in 2013; 13 in 2014; 10 in 2015; five in 2016; and three by June this year. China deported 240 Pakistanis. Of these 26 were in 2012; 39 in 2013’; 36 in 2014; 46 in 2015; 80 in 2016; and 13 by June this year.

The Interior Ministry started tabulating reasons for deportations from 2014.

Overstaying visas, lost passports, passport retained by visa sponsors or employers, illegal immigration, entry refused, and other illegal entries are the most common of the over 115 reasons for which these people were sent back home by the authorities of these countries.

Data placed before the Senate shows an 280,052 Pakistanis were deported from Saudi Arabia. — PTI