Minister of State for Interior Tallal Chaudhry on Thursday said that Pakistan’s relationship with the United Arab Emirates was “absolutely fine”.

Chaudhry made the remarks while speaking on the floor of the National Assembly in response to concerns raised by lawmakers regarding the deportation of Pakistanis from the Gulf country.

Several media outlets in recent days have reported that the Gulf country had begun a “large-scale expulsion” of Pakistani workers, particularly Shia workers, signalling a shift in Pakistan-UAE ties. The Interior Ministry has denied the claims.

“I don’t know why people are intent on building a narrative against a country; that people from there are being deported based on sectarian differences,” the state minister said on Thursday.

“There is no such thing. The government has categorically denied this. Our ties with the UAE are absolutely fine,” he said.

He went on to say that for this month, the highest amount of remittances was received from Saudi Arabia, followed by the UAE.

“We should not be jumping to conclusions regarding countries,” the state minister said, warning that it could impact “future ties”. However, he asserted that “if there are any complaints, we will address them,” vowing that the government viewed Pakistanis of “all sects and colours” as equal.

On May 7, during a weekly briefing, Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi was asked about the “unusually high number” of emergency exit documents (ETD) or outpasses being issued by the Pakistani consulate in the UAE.

In his response, Andrabi said the development was “mainly driven by administrative actions, including immigration status violation and other legal infractions”.