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Ashraf Siddiqui
Doha
Ninety percent of middlemen and sub-agents have been eliminated from recruitment sector in Pakistan, said Chaudary Mohamad Afzal, Central Chairman, Pakistan Overseas Employment Promoters' Association (POEPA).
He said that the middlemen will soon be totally eliminated in the country as a country-wide campaign is being carried out with strict instructions to all 3,600 registered recruitment agencies for immediate termination of sub-agents.
The POEPA chairman, who is on a study visit to Qatar along with Central Executive Committee member Mikaeel Khan Bangash, said a number of middlemen have already been sent"behind bars".
"A wide range of awareness campaign is also going on to enlighten people interested in overseas employment that engaging with such agents is illegal," he said.
According to him, other steps being taken to regulate recruitment from zonal level to district level system include maintaining a data bank of the available workforce through which registered people will be informed about the jobs as per their skills.
Afzal pointed out that there are around four million unemployed unskilled workers in Pakistan while 1,700 vocational training centres are currently operating at zonal levels to provide minimum semi-skilled training for electricians, plumbers, woodworkers and automobile technician, among others.
As part of efforts to address workers' issues and complaints, he said a website will soon be launched to enable workers register their complaint, and the concerned Pakistani missions will be required to submit their report about their action in that regard. He added that this would be done with the support of ILO and cooperation of Federal Investigation Agency and Protector Division of Bureau of Immigration.
Afzal said that other steps include a seven-day compulsory familiarisation course for all workers before leaving the country to train about the culture, local laws and other social values of the visiting country."The worker is also educated about his and employer's rights and duties," Afzal added.
While acknowledging the need to develop a local industry to eliminate unemployment in the country, he said the current situation makes many people look for a source of income abroad to support their families.
He said that POEPA has located five new markets Qatar, Kuwait, Malaysia, South Korea and Turkey to absorb these people, adding that according to Pakistan Bureau of Immigration, 85,000 Pakistanis are currently working in Qatar.
"I believe hard working and skilled Pakistani workers can play a big role in the ongoing development of Qatar. That is why a two-member team is in Qatar to see the scope and barriers in regard to recruitment of Pakistanis," he said, adding that the GCC states contributed to 70 percent of total overseas workers' remittances of $18.7 billion in 2015.
"Therefore, the Gulf states have extreme importance in the country's policy towards foreign relations. Besides, Pakistan has not faced a major challenge in terms of retention of workforce in the region," the POEPA chairman said.
However, Afzal expressed concern for the need to appoint community welfare officers in Pakistan foreign missions. He suggested that the officers should be selected from Pakistan's Ministry of Human Resources as professionals who understand employer and employee's rights and duties. He also hoped that Pakistani mission in Qatar would make efforts to realise the issuance of 100,000 new visas for Pakistanis as promised during the last visit of Prime Minister Mohammad Nawaz Sharif to Qatar.
He added that Pakistani Ambassador to Qatar HE Shahzad Ahmad assured him that a delegation headed by Speaker of Pakistan National Assembly, which is currently visiting Qatar, will follow up on the"visa and other issues of common interests".
