PESHAWAR, Nov 27: The Pakistan Overseas Employment Promoters Association, NWFP, has expressed concern over the problems faced by its members and has demanded of the government to extend facilities to them so that more people could be sent abroad and earn more foreign exchange.
Speaking at a news conference here on Tuesday at the Peshawar Press Club, Bakht Rawan, the president of the association, said that they faced a lot of problems which had not only affected their business but also cost millions of rupees to the national exchequer.
The slow process of visa applications at the Saudi embassy had been depriving thousands of people from getting employment in that country.
He said about 200 members of the association in the Frontier province paid the government Rs300,000 each as security fee for issuance of recruitment license, Rs30,000 as professional tax and Rs10,000 as membership fee annually but in return they were not extended any facilities which has brought their business to a standstill.
He said that the Saudi embassy in Islamabad was demanding computerised driving license from the aspirants for the drivers’ post, whereas the NWFP government has yet to issue computerised license.
He said the federal labour minister, Owais Ghani, had promised them to launch computerization of driving license programme in the NWFP to meet the demand of the Saudi embassy which has not been materialized so far.
He also said that Nadra, besides charging high fee of Rs1,500 for a single identity card was taking a long time in issuance of computerised IDs which further delayed the processing of the visa applications.
He was of the view that if the government held talks and consultations with the associations’ members and devise a joint strategy, the country could send more professionals to Saudi Arabia where the skill of the Pakistanis was in great demand. Due to slow visa process, the chances of employment were availed by the Indians, Sri Lankans, Filipinos and Bangladeshis, because the employers could not wait for so long and they needed manpower for their concerns.
These were the promoters who created chances of employment for their clients in the oil-rich country and there was no help from the Ministry of Labour and Overseas Employment, he said, adding they could send 10,000 men to Saudi Arabia on monthly basis but the visa processing mechanism should be expedited at the embassy.
