UAE Deports 15,000 Pakistani Workers, Seizes Their Savings
Theo Middle East Eye
The United Arab Emirates has arrested and deported around 15,000 Pakistani workers, many of them Shia Muslims, without formal charges, and confiscated their savings, according to a report by New Lines Magazine. The deportations followed a pattern involving phone seizures and transfers between detention centers, with workers denied access to their bank accounts.
New Lines Magazine reports that the authorities of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have arrested and deported up to 15,000 Pakistani workers, many of whom are Shia Muslims, without filing any official charges.
According to the report, the arrests followed a distinct pattern, including confiscating phones, moving detainees between detention facilities, and arranging deportation flights back to Pakistan. The workers were sent home “without any opportunity to withdraw money” from their bank accounts, according to a Shia Muslim cleric quoted in the article.
Many of those deported had been working in the UAE for decades. Remittances from overseas workers remain a crucial source of foreign currency for Pakistan and a main source of income for many families in the South Asian nation.