ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Overseas Pakistanis was informed about deplorable standard of Pakistani workforce, mainly in the Gulf region, has led to the shifting of preferences by Gulf employers to hire workforce from other regional countries, such as Bangladesh, instead of Pakistan.
The Senate committee meeting, chaired by Senator Zeeshan Khanzada, stressed that the government was ignoring the potentials available in this sector.
After facing criticism from members of the committee regarding failure of the government to harness potentials of Pakistani diaspora, the secretary of Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development, Dr Arshad Mahmood, presented a bleak picture of the situation of Pakistan labour force in Gulf countries.
He said that 50 per cent of the crime rate among the UAE labour force is reportedly attributed to Pakistanis. The committee was further informed that UAE authorities have recently expressed concern over inappropriate behaviour of some Pakistanis in their country, which includes making videos of women in Dubai without their consent.
The secretary of the ministry said there was a declining trend in overseas employment for Pakistani labour force as despite modernisation and advancement in technology a significant portion of the Pakistani labour force remains unskilled.
The committee was informed that lack of resources and skill development of Pakistani labour force has resulted in replacement of Pakistani workers from other countries.
Dr Mahmood said that skilled labour force from countries such as Bangladesh serves as an inspiration and Pakistan needs to follow suit. The secretary said that Pakistani diaspora includes 10.7 million individuals, primarily working in Saudi Arabia, UAE, US, UK and Canada.
The secretary apprised the committee that governments of UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait have voiced reservations on various issues related to overseas Pakistanis.
