KARACHI, March 3: A batch of 692 Pakistani deportees from Muscat arrived here on Friday on board the Al-Hamdi-2 launch. The deportees were served food, drinking water, provided cloths and cash.

The release of these Pakistanis was possible due to the efforts of the Foreign Office, Ministry of Interior and the Pakistani Embassy in Muscat, said a statement of the Ansar Burney Welfare Trust.

Concerned officials after collecting information from the deportees allowed them to leave for their homes.

Most of these people, of all age groups, belonged to remote areas of the Punjab and the NWFP provinces.

Among them, a young boy, Raana Mohammed Shahid, who became a victim of swindlers had paid thousands of rupees so he could go abroad to earn bread and butter for his poor family. He had suffered head injuries and was paralysed, and was admitted to a local hospital.

These Pakistanis were defrauded by unscrupulous elements by presenting to them a rosy picture of better job opportunities in Muscat.—APP