Saudi Arabia bars firms to lay off Pakistani workers for next 3 months; Zulfi informs NA body

ISLAMABAD, Apr 22 (APP):National Assembly (NA) Functional Committee for the Affectees of Coronavirus was informed on Wednesday that the Saudi government had decided to bar the companies from laying off Pakistani workers for the next three months.
Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development (OP&HRD) Sayed Zulfikar Bukhari disclosed this during the meeting, held here in the Parliament House, said a OP&HRD press release.
Zulfikar Bukhari said Vice Minister for Labour and Social Development Dr Abdullah bin Nasser Abu Thuniyan had assured him that the Saudi firms would not expel the Pakistani workers for the next three months and pay them salaries during the period.
Apprising the committee about his ministry’s steps for facilitation of the stranded Pakistani expats, he said the Saudi government had also announced to extend visas of Pakistanis till December this year.
He said the Qatari, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates governments had been requested to provide maximum relief to the Pakistani workers in the prevailing situation. “We want to fulfill every need of our nationals in such trying times.”
Extensive efforts were being made to repatriate those Pakistanis who were stuck in foreign countries due to the coronavirus pandemic, the special assistant informed the committee members.
All out efforts were being made to facilitate all the Pakistani laborers who had been facing issues in the wake of coronavirus crisis, he added.