758 Pakistanis deported by Oman return Home
Maria A Khan 'Pakistan Times' Diplomatic Correspondent

ISLAMABAD: Traveling on board a cargo ship used for livestock transportation, some 758 Pakistanis deported by the Oman government for illegally staying in the Gulf country returned home on Friday, officials and rights activists said.

Most of the people were without proper clothing when their ship, Majid, docked at the Karachi seaport.

“They were in a pathetic condition as the ship was overcrowded and they did not even have enough food with them,” human rights activist Ansar Burney said of the people who traveled for about four days on the open sea.

Burney runs a nongovernmental organization that is helping illegal immigrants, mostly poor laborers who are lured by human traffickers to get attractive jobs for them in the Gulf states.

But with no legal permits and valid visas, most of them end up in jail, where they spend months or even years before being deported.

More than 6,000 Pakistanis have been deported from Oman and other Gulf countries this year but thousands of others continued to languish in jail.

“It seems an endless string as despite our efforts to highlight the issue, people continue to travel illegally to these gulf countries,” Burney said.●