Why beggars flying to beg abroad has Pakistanis worried

The world is flustered as beggars from Pakistan flood its cities. Saudi Arabia this week asked Pakistan to prevent beggars from misusing Umrah visas to reach the holy cities of Mecca and Medina for begging. This trend of beggars abusing visas to beg in foreign countries has Pakistan and its genuine Pakistani visa-seekers worried.
That worry isn’t misplaced. Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Religious Affairs warned that if the situation wasn’t controlled, it could negatively affect Pakistani Umrah and Hajj pilgrims, Pakistan’s Express Tribune reported on Tuesday.
That Saudi Arabian streets are teeming with Pakistani beggars is visible to everyone.
“I just came back from Ummrah and I assure you that I’m ashamed of being a Pakistani. They are begging inside Bin Dawood store, they are begging during Ummrah, they are begging on the streets,” said Usman, a resident of Islamabad, on September 25 in a post on X.
What is interesting about these beggars is that they are absolute professionals who apply for visas and take flights to destinations outside Pakistan.
In an opinion piece in Pakistani daily Dawn, legal expert Rafia Zakaria writes how Pakistanis have seen their fellow countrymen “set up shop outside the holy places in Makkah and Madinah, where they harass foreign pilgrims for money”.
She calls the beggars “master manipulators who know how to pull at their victims’ guilt and get them to part with their money”.
It’s not just Saudi Arabia, Pakistani beggars are found in several Middle East countries, including the UAE.
Last September, Secretary of Overseas Pakistanis, Zeeshan Khanzada said that 90% of all beggars detained in West Asian nations were from Pakistan.
“Ambassadors of Iraq and Saudi Arabia have told us that Pakistani beggars travel abroad under the guise of ziarat (pilgrimage) on Umrah visas and later engage in begging on the streets,” Pakistan’s Geo News Urdu quoted Khanzada as saying last September.
That this isn’t the work of individuals but involves a well-oiled machinery was revealed by Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi.
Naqvi, in a meeting with Saudi Ambassador Nawaf bin Said Ahmed Al-Malki, said strict measures would be taken against mafia responsible for sending beggars to Saudi Arabia.
Pakistan has tasked the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) with cracking down on this network that sends beggars abroad.
An FIA officer told Dawn that immigration officers at Pakistan’s international airports are extra cautious about passengers who travel frequently to the Middle East for short durations.
“In case of suspicion, travellers are off-loaded from aeroplanes,” said the FIA officer.
The FIA offloaded 11 alleged beggars from a Saudi Arabia-bound flight at Karachi airport a month ago.
The beggars aren’t just a problem for pilgrims in Saudi Arabia or people in other Middle Eastern countries, they are a big headache now for Pakistanis as well.
This comes amid an economic crisis in Pakistan, and record number of people looking for employment overseas legally.
“Legitimate travellers, students and workers who apply for proper visas must suffer the extra scrutiny at foreign embassies and frequent denial of visas,” writes Rafia Zakaria in Dawn.
Zakaria says that millions of Pakistanis who would never even think of begging abroad are stuck at home with their green passports because of some wrongdoers.
That genuine Pakistanis are facing and would face more problems with their visa approvals is anyone’s guess.
Also, because Pakistan wants Middle Eastern and Gulf countries to tighten their visa scrutiny to stop import of Pakistani beggars.
“These countries should also look into their visa processing system instead of just pressing Pakistani authorities to stop potential beggars, criminals and illegal immigrants,” a senior FIA officer told Dawn.
There were also reports in July by Geo News on how employers in Gulf nations now preferring to hire workers from other regional cou­ntries, like Bangladesh, instead of Pakistan. That was because of the “deplorable standard of Pakistani workforce”.
The overall image of Pakistanis abroad isn’t encouraging for jobseekers from Pakistan. And its export of beggars isn’t just flustering countries like Saudi Arabia, it is also coming to bite back Pakistanis who are legally looking for opportunities abroad as they are facing increasing visa scrutiny and refusals.