Khawaja Asif blames visa restrictions in the Gulf on the beggar mafia

Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif on Monday accused beggar mafia groups of being responsible for Gulf countries’ visa restrictions on Pakistanis.

Last year, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) detained 66,154 passengers to stop organized gangs of beggars and illegal immigrants from traveling abroad. The FIA ​​director general told the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development that 51,000 of these people were stopped due to questionable validity of their travel documents, which fall under three main categories: work visas, tourist visas and Umrah visas.

He had highlighted that illegal migration and begging were seriously damaging Pakistan’s international image. He reported that 56,000 beggars were deported from Saudi Arabia, while the United Arab Emirates had also imposed visa restrictions in light of the phenomenon.

In a post on X today, Asif said: “Begging has become a full-fledged profession. It is completely organized. There are regular contractors who recruit children, women and fake disabled people and earn crores. The same mafia exports thousands of the same beggars to the Gulf countries. The countries that are fed up have closed our visas.”

The staff of various government departments posted at airports were equal partners in the illegal trade, facilitating the movement of beggars abroad and benefiting from the operation, the defense minister alleged.

Referring to Sialkot, he said many beggars came from southern Punjab and stayed in hotels while carrying out their activities.

He acknowledged that recent actions by the local administration and the police had reduced the scale of the business, but stressed that organized begging was still visible in the city.

Asif pointed out that the contractors behind these operations appeared to be financially stable and socially respectable individuals. Whenever crackdowns were launched against beggars, these contractors intervened using their influence and recommendations to protect them, he added.

Terming it a bitter reality, the defense minister said organized begging had become one of the biggest sources of so-called “employment” in the country.

He stressed that such a widespread operation could not exist in any city without the patronage of local administration and police.

The Defense Minister highlighted that the business was linked to several other highly disturbing criminal activities and called for serious and sustained action to dismantle the networks involved.