About 50,000 Pakistanis are estimated to be affected adversely as a consequence of the registration drive launched by the US immigration authorities. Most of these would-be-victims are reported to be staying in the US without valid papers. All of them, it is feared, would have to come back home no matter how strenuously the government in Islamabad would try to fight their case in Washington. At best, the government efforts would do no more than help reduce the plight of the victims. But return they will have.

Those of the returnees who could bring back with them some savings would surely be able to fend for themselves for a while. But most are likely to return empty handed as being illegal, their earnings perhaps had been below the normal wages and even if some of them had made good, then their illegal status may come in the way of transfer of their savings to Pakistan.

So, perhaps at least about 45,000 of the would-be-returnees would come back home almost destitute. Most of them had gone abroad because they had found it almost impossible to earn a decent living at home. And because the job situation has gone from bad to worse since their departure, they are likely to find it even more difficult to adjust themselves in the domestic economic environment.

A sudden influx of such a large number of work-force looking for jobs in a country where the rate of unemployment is already precariously high would certainly add to its economic woes. Forty five thousand unemployed men would mean deprivation for a population of at least a quarter million because at least about 5 people depend on one wage earner for their two square meals in Pakistan. And a sudden increase in the population of destitute by about a quarter million would add that much to the already expanding sea of poverty in the country and send the economy once again in a tailspin. How does one cope with such a big socio-economic challenge? On the face of it there seems to be no ready answer to this question. But then perhaps a way out could be found if the problem is studied rather closely to find out the extent of its enormity and size.

Since most of these immigrants are illegal any kind of statistics about them is hardly likely to exist. And today they are in such a frame of mind that if they are asked through public announcement to send in their particulars, they would perhaps regard it as another trick to catch hold of them. So, in order to compile data about them, the services of some world renowned socially-oriented non-governmental organizations(NGOs) should be hired, or some of the associations of Pakistanis based in the US who have a good track record of social service could be recruited to do the job for a fee to be paid by the government.The data so collected could be analysed at the Planning Commission or other such organizations in Pakistan to come up with appropriate ideas on tackling the issue suitably. Alternatively/ additionally, some special cells should be established at the international airports in Pakistan for recording the particulars of all those persons who are returning home after having failed the INS test. This data too could be fed into the one collected by the NGOs in the US for cross checking purposes.

The purpose of this exercise should not be to use the information gathered against the affectees but to help them get rehabilitated as productive economic units in their own country. The skills they already possessed and those that they acquired during their stay in the US could be put to use by the government for mutual benefit. They could even be offered venture capital to set them up in businesses they know best.

In times of oil crises Pakistan has always gone for help to the brotherly oil rich Muslim countries and they have never refused to help. Even now when things are taking a dangerous turn on the Iraq issue, we have already been assured by Saudi Arabia and the UAE of uninterrupted supply at most economical prices and in some instances at deferred payments. We could use a part of this concession to launch projects specifically to help accommodate the returning Pakistanis from the US.

This entire exercise if handled properly will win for the government the goodwill of even those Pakistanis who are at the moment not in a hurry to return home but who too are looking at the possibility because of the increasing hostility that they are now facing in the US and Europe. All of them, whether legally staying in these countries are making two ends meet by having entered them illegally are considered suspect by the respective governments.

Future for these Pakistanis and their children in these countries now looks very bleak as the governments there are clearly seem now to be suffering from a siege mentality. It will perhaps take ages before they get out of this mentality and once again start living normally. But before this happens, these countries would remain ‘no go’ areas for Pakistanis.

These Pakistanis would like to come back home in an orderly fashion. If they find that the government in Islamabad is anticipating such a development and making arrangements for making their return mutually profitable they would perhaps join in the efforts and make their own specialised contribution to these efforts.

Pakistanis who went out in search of greener pastures contributed to their motherland’s economy by sending in remittances, no matter what their size. These remittances in a way had even neutralized the skills gaps that were being created by the brain drain. Now when they return after having acquired better skills, better work ethics and substantial savings, they would perhaps be able to contribute much more to the national economy.

It is,therefore, necessary that the government should initiate a national debate immediately for evolving a wholesome policy for enabling the returning overseas Pakistanis to make the most of the economic opportunities being offered by their own country without let or hindrance.