JEDDAH — The Saudi government has accepted a proposal presented by the Pakistan Consulate to process cases of workers listed as huroob (runaway) by the Passport Department for final exit without sending them to deportation centers. This was disclosed by Pakistan's Consul General Aftab Ahmad Khokher at a press briefing here on Wednesday. In view of the difficulties faced by Pakistani workers who had escaped from their employers for various reasons, Khokher met with Saudi officials and proposed that instead of sending these workers to detention centers they should be repatriated home immediately. Khokher said: “Dr. Muhammad Abdulwahab Nugali, representative of the Foreign Ministry at the General Services Center in Shumaisi, after receiving a letter from the chairman of the administrative and financial committee at the General Services Center, Makkah region, issued directives to embassies and consulates that they could issue travel documents to their respective nationals, including huroob cases, at the lounge for Haj and Umrah overstayers.” All such cases will be processed by the consulate and issued emergency passports, the consul general said, adding that they will be sent back home within three days from the issuance of travel documents but only after settling any penalties and financial obligations. The welfare wing of the Consulate General of Pakistan will process the cases. They will have to leave Saudi Arabia within 72 hours of fingerprinting them at the deportation center, said a statement issued by the consulate.
