ISLAMABAD, May 20: The Senate Standing Committee on Labour, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis has criticised Pakistani embassy officials in Spain for their refusal to bear the transportation cost of the body of a Pakistani citizen.

The committee which met here on Tuesday expressed concern over the performance of the embassy officials, particularly relating to the Pakistanis working there. It was of the view that the embassy should have taken immediate steps to send to Pakistan the corpse of Hussain Shah who died on Dec 24 last year.

It was pointed out that the federal cabinet had already taken a decision that bodies of Pakistanis dying abroad would be transported back home at government expense.

The committee rejected the explanation given by the foreign office that the deceased was a member of the Minhajul Quran Burial Committee, a Pakistani organisation which makes arrangements for transportation and funeral of the bodies for its members and that the deceased had a work permit and was doing his own business.Other issues which came under discussion included development of housing schemes for Pakistanis working abroad.

The committee directed the overseas Pakistani division to take control of the land acquired for these housing schemes and try to settle litigations. The committee called upon the government to take strict action against land grabbers.

The committee underlined the need for making the procedure of manpower exports to Malaysia and South Korea more transparent. Members of the committee pointed out various drawbacks in the procedure. They were shocked to learn that there was a decline in the export of manpower to Malaysia for different reasons, low wages being the major factor.

Senator Enver Baig said that the MoU signed with South Korea should be reviewed. He spoke about the alleged fraud committed by a Pakistani national. He said the man, who owned a shipping company, was fleecing people in the name of providing them jobs abroad.

The committee directed the Bureau of Immigration director-general to take appropriate steps in this regard because the practice not only deprived poor people of their hard-earned money but also brought a bad name to the country.

Other senators who attended the meeting are: Fauzia Fakhar-uz-Zaman, Ilyas Ahmad Bilour, Mir Mohammad Nasir Mingal, Raza Mohammad Raza, Mualana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri and Sahibzada Khalid Jan. Senator Naeem Hussain Chatta presided over the meeting.