According to Director General Bureau of Immigration, the target is to provide employment to 900,000 Pakistanis abroad in 2023, of which 90 percent has been achieved. Talking to journalists in Islamabad, he said that e-license and e-payment system will be introduced soon for overseas employment promoters license. He said that Europe is becoming a big market for Pakistan and we will provide employment to millions of Pakistanis there.

According to the head of the Immigration Bureau, many lakhs of Pakistanis have gone to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for employment this year, while in Bahrain, Iraq, Malaysia, Oman, Qatar and Turkey, in addition to Romania and Portugal, there are also vast employment opportunities for Pakistanis. Undoubtedly, the greatest wealth of any country is its workforce, especially the new generation, whose proper education and training plays a key role in national development.

Alhamdulillah, Pakistan is blessed with abundant natural resources as well as a wealth of young manpower. In our population of nearly a quarter of a billion, the proportion of young people under the age of thirty is 60 percent. From this point of view, Pakistan is the fifth largest country in the world, while in developed countries, especially in the western world, the proportion of elderly people is increasing due to a sharp decrease in the birth rate, and they are forced to import teenage workforce to continue economic activities.

The national economy is currently facing its worst crisis and several factors have contributed to bring it to this state, chief among which is the trade imbalance, i.e. foreign exchange is withdrawing more than the inflow and the resulting deficit is on the most severe terms.

It has to be fulfilled by taking external loans. The size of the country’s safe reserves, which fell to less than four billion dollars a few weeks ago, has been slightly managed by the government’s hard efforts, but its status can be estimated from the Indian reserves, which currently stand at $600 billion.

Remittances sent by overseas Pakistanis are considered very lucrative in the conditions created by the trade imbalance.

The workface abroad is the backbone of our economy as they send millions of foreign exchange back home but when it comes to providing privileged to overseas Pakistanis, who send billions back home, our successive governments adopt a damn care attribute. They are mocked in the name of privileges for the one crore overseas Pakistanis who send thirty billion dollars of foreign exchange to Pakistan annually.  Yes, if you are an overseas Pakistani and you hear the details of these benefits, you will also laugh at what the government is playing with you in the name of benefits.

Recently it was said that a new ‘Diamond Card’ is being issued for remittances and it will be issued to those who remit more than $50,000 annually. Privileges that will be offered to the Diamond Card holder include an unrestricted arms license, complimentary passport, priority access to Pakistani embassies and consulates and expedited immigration facilities at Pakistani airports, it was announced. Gratitude includes passports, priority access to Pakistani embassies and consulates and expedited immigration facilities at Pakistani airports. It has also been announced that a scheme will be launched to give big prizes to remittance card holders through raffle.

Now know the reality of these benefits, that is, the overseas Pakistani who sends fifty thousand dollars to Pakistan through banking channels will be issued a diamond card and the first facility given to him is a prohibited bore weapon. There will be a license, I think overseas Pakistanis are used to living in a peaceful environment, so no overseas Pakistani will send such a large amount of money for a license for a dangerous weapon, the next facility is the passport, through which they can get to the airports of Pakistan. But if the fastest immigration facility can be obtained, then the person who is sending five hundred thousand dollars to Pakistan will undoubtedly be a benevolent person and the benevolent person is already getting these privileges by giving a few thousand rupees or through his influence. 

While the Pakistani embassies get access from such philanthropic Pakistanis themselves, they do not need access to the embassies, so this is not an attractive facility, the real problems in Pakistan’s airports and embassies are those overseas Pakistanis who work only monthly.

They have the power to send their families with their salary, which is a few hundred dollars, they are not comfortable at the airport or in the embassies, the government has not given them any benefits that they actually deserve, so if you look at it, the most important means of sending dollars, i.e., the government has only announced nominal privileges for its own compatriots overseas Pakistanis. It should have been that overseas Pakistanis are told that every Pakistani will send fifty thousand dollars home in a year. He will be able to bring a small car to Pakistan without duty, while a Pakistani who sends 100,000 dollars will be able to bring a car up to 1500 cc to Pakistan without duty, while any car worth 200,000 to 500,000 dollars will be able to bring it to Pakistan without duty.  Not only that, but for every overseas Pakistani who sends 10,000 dollars to Pakistan per month, the government will pay an additional five rupees per dollar.

Also, the government should immediately end the open market rate because this open market rate is the only dollar. The reason for the artificial increase in the price and handover is the handi, then the government should allow overseas Pakistanis to bring a mobile phone duty-free. Believe me, if the government provides real and meaningful facilities to one crore overseas Pakistanis, the benefits they will get remittances can easily reach thirty-five billion dollars in just one year, but in Pakistan, overseas Pakistanis are persecuted in reverse.

On the other hand, some economic experts say that we should not send our trained and skilled manpower abroad at the cost of the construction and development of our country, but we should start such development projects within the country as much as possible, which will significantly increase the attractive employment opportunities and our people do not be forced to go abroad because of unemployment in the country.

Published in The Daily National Courier, November, 02 2023

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