ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Minister for Foreign Affairs Jalil Abbas Jilani on Tuesday informed the Senate that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has busted two-three gangs of beggars who were trying to travel to Saudi Arabia under the garb of Ummrah.
Replying to various supplementary questions during Question Hour, the minister said that around 2.5 million Pakistanis were working in Saudi Arabia. Round the clock helpline has been established in the Pakistani Embassy in Riyadh and Consulate General in Jeddah to address their complaints, he added.
He said hundreds of thousands telephone calls received which were not only noted but also making all out efforts to address it.
He said some 500,000 visas were issued to Pakistani last year for employment. The Saudi authorities have also given the assurances to provide jobs to those facing employment related problems at alternative companies, he added.
To another question, he said total 96 Audit Paras from Audit Reports for the year 2019-2020, 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 on the accounts of Ministry of Foreign Affairs have been considered by the Public Accounts Committee. Out of these 96 Audit Paras, 19 have been settled and work continues for the settlement of remaining paras, he said.
He said the amount pointed out by Audit was Rs. 13,962.478/- Million, out of which Rs. 723.58 Million was recoverable. So far, Rs 163.194 Million has already been recovered, he added.
To a separate question, the minister said the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI) was set up in 1973 and was an autonomous, non-profit research and analyses organization affiliated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The purpose of the Institute was to foster dialogue, understanding and collaboration amongst scholars, policy-makers and other stakeholders, he said. He said during the last three years i.e., 2020-23, the ISSI registered a quantitative surge and qualitative improvement in all three streams of its work research, discourse and policy inputs to the government.
