PEOPLE have heaved a sigh of relief over statement issued by Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis Zulfiqar Bukhari on Thursday denying media reports of the United Arab Emirates’ move to suspend the issuance of work visas to Pakistanis, saying that there was “no ban on export of Pakistani workforce”. He quoted the UAE Minister for Human Resources and Emiratisation Nasser bin Thani Al Hamli as categorically stating that there is no ban on export of Pakistani workforce. Furthermore, the UAE was giving priority to those workers, who were registered on the Virtual Labour Market Database and had been laid off due to the economic slump caused by Covid-19.
The Special Assistant must have firsthand knowledge of the true picture but there are consistent reports that the UAE has temporarily banned issuance of visit and work visas for fifteen Muslim countries including Pakistan and Afghanistan. Foreign Office, which is the most relevant to speak on the subject with authority, seems to be either ignorant or wants subdued treatment to an issue that is deeply linked to the overall state of economy of Pakistan. In reply to a question at the weekly news briefing, Foreign Office spokesperson said the report about the stoppage of visas to Pakistanis is not confirmed. This is intriguing as in view of the crucial importance of the issue, our Mission in the UAE should have got clarification without loss of time and informed the Headquarters accordingly. In the first place, it is a failure of our Mission that Pakistan has been included in the list of fifteen countries that are to be denied visit and work visas for unexplained reasons. There are speculations that the move, which comes in the wake of initiation of closer contacts between UAE and Israel, has something to do with security issues but confusion can only be explained by relevant ministries after discussion of the matter with relevant authorities in the UAE. It is strange that the authorities are taking the issue lightly despite the fact that the country was receiving record remittances from Overseas Pakistanis for the last four months and the UAE, after Saudi Arabia, was the second highest destination for inflows of remittances. We hope that the Prime Minister himself would take personal interest in the matter and raise the issue with the top leadership of the UAE as there are apprehensions that in case of delay Pakistan might lose manpower export opportunities to India and other countries.