OVERSEAS Pakistanis face a variety of difficulties and challenges which become acute because of the negligence of authorities concerned. There are thousands of cases where property grabbers and fraud agents looted the hard-earned money of overseas Pakistanis but relevant law enforcement agencies couldn’t do the needful to nab the culprits.

We also witnessed fraud in the name of recruitment agencies where people got lured by the agents for jobs. But, later people were forced to sign new contracts after landing in the country where they went for a job.

We have also observed difficulties faced by people in different countries in legal and administrative matters with least support from embassies/high commissions. Isn’t this an irony on our part that bodies of the people dying abroad, especially in the Middle East, reach home after months just because of lack of support from embassies?

Overseas Pakistanis should be valued and get due rights if government wants them to continue playing their constructive role in nation building. We shouldn’t feel ourselves orphans with no caring hands on our heads when and where we need help from authorities.

We expect our government to address the issues with host governments to ease the lives of our workers abroad. As an example, expatriates from various countries, including India, are enjoying a subsidised visit visa fee in Saudi Arabia but people from Pakistan have yet to pay same 2,000 riyals per visitor.

Government should discuss this matter with the Saudis the way it negotiated visa fees for repeated Umrah cases.

Ajmal Hussain Abbasi

Jeddah

Published in Dawn, December 6th, 2018