ISLAMABAD, July 20: A team has been constituted to facilitate safe and smooth return of hundreds of Pakistanis arrested recently in Oman, according to Acting Pakistan Ambassador to Oman Sarfraz Ahmad Khan Sipra.

The team headed by Pakistan’s ambassador to Oman would visit all detention centres in the kingdom, he said in a PTV interview.

Pakistan embassy was looking after the welfare of the detained, he said, adding that the Omani government was cooperating with Pakistani officials.

Referring to Oman’s intensified crackdown on illegal expatriates, he said it was not Pakistan specific. The operation was initiated in May and was not targeting any particular community, he said.

Rejecting media reports that about 3,000 Pakistani had been arrested in Oman, he said the number was in the hundreds and not in thousands.

People who had complete legal documents were released and only illegal expatriates were being deported. Around 390 Pakistani have so far been deported from Oman.

About 80,000 to 85,000 Pakistanis were living in Oman, he said. — APP