He had highlighted that illegal migration and begging were seriously damaging Pakistan’s international image
Defense Minister Khawaja Asif. PHOTO: APP/ File
Defense Minister Khawaja 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 on Monday, 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.
