KARACHI: More than 39,000 Pakistanis were deported from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) in the last four months, reported the Saudi Gazette on Tuesday.

Referring to security sources, the Saudi newspaper said that the deportations were made for “violating the rules of residence and work”.

According to Dawn.com, the report also said that the involvement of several Pakistani nationals in “some terrorist actions” orchestrated by the militant Islamic State (IS) group as well as drug trafficking, theft, forgery and physical assault prompted calls for thorough scrutiny of Pakistanis aspiring to work in Saudi Arabia.

“Abdullah Al-Sadoun, chairman of the security committee of the Shura Council, called for thoroughly scrutinising the Pakistanis before they are recruited for work in the Kingdom,” the report said.

Furthermore, the Shura council chairman also asked for closer coordination with the authorities concerned in Pakistan to thoroughly check those coming to work in the Kingdom due to the involvement of a number of Pakistanis in security issues.

“Pakistan itself is plagued with terrorism due to its close proximity with Afghanistan. The Taliban extremist movement was itself born in Pakistan,” the chairman was quoted as saying.

Citing statistics provided by the Saudi interior ministry, the report went on to say that 82 Pakistani suspects were currently being held in intelligence prisons over charges of terror and other security related issues.

“As many as 15 Pakistanis, including a woman, were nabbed following the recent terrorist operations in Al-Harazat and Al-Naseem districts in Jeddah,” the report added.

A few months ago, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had released a report titled “Labour Migration from Pakistan: 2015 Status Report” which showed that 131,643 Pakistani migrants were deported from Saudi Arabia between 2012-15.

According to the report, most of the individuals deported from Saudi Arabia were job seekers and businessmen. The report also claimed that a large number of migrant workers were stranded abroad due to “lack of proper documentation and thus deported”.

The largest number of stranded Pakistanis at 882,887 was deported from Jeddah during the years 2005-06 to 2014-15.

Another media report suggested that Saudi Arabia deported 50,262 foreigners for violating work and residence regulations during last two months of 2014.

In 2013 alone, Saudi authorities had reportedly deported more than 700,000 foreigners for violating work and residence laws and foiled more than 290,000 attempts by infiltrators to enter the kingdom illegally.

Published in Dawn February 8th, 2017