ISLAMABAD, May 24: People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) Senator Enver Baig has said due to wrong policies of the government, Pakistan has lost various opportunities for overseas employment in the past few years. Talking to a group of reporters here on Tuesday, the PPP senator alleged that the Overseas Employment Corporation (OEC) had mishandled some 4,200 recruitments offered by a Kuwaiti firm last November.

Similarly, he said, the country had lost the opportunity to send thousands of people to Muscat, Malaysia and other countries for employment due to mishandling on the part of OEC officials.

He claimed that the OEC was collecting Rs12,000 from an individual for providing him employment. He said under the law, the OEC was authorized to collect a fee of Rs4,450 from an individual, adding that the corporation was even collecting money from those who secured direct employment abroad.

Mr Baig, who is also a member of the Senate Standing Committee on Labour and Manpower, criticized Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz for announcing that Pakistan and Malaysia had signed a memorandum of understanding for providing jobs to Pakistanis.

He claimed that no employment offers had been placed by Malaysia.

On the other hand, he said, local agents in Malaysia on their own were selling visas to people of various countries for $300. Interestingly, he said, the ministry of labour had sent a summary to the Prime Minister’s Secretariat seeking permission to purchase visas from the local agents of Malaysia.

Mr Baig claimed that the ministry of labour, manpower and overseas Pakistanis did not have any data about the number of labourers in the country.