Islamabad, Feb 12 (IANS) Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has admitted that the Gulf countries have stopped issuing visas to Pakistanis as mafia groups continue to export “beggars” to these nations.

Sharing a video on social media that revealed how beggars in Pakistan earn enough money to purchase houses through organised networks, Asif highlighted that this has prompted the Gulf nations to stop issuing visas to Pakistanis now, UAE’s leading daily Khaleej Times reported.

The video showed a Pakistani man speaking with a child beggar and revealing how entire families work together to earn money through begging. Reacting to the video, Asif said “begging has become a profession” that is quite organised.

“There are formal contractors who recruit children, women, and fake disabled people and earn billions. This same mafia exports these beggars to Gulf countries in the thousands.” He further mentioned that fed up by this, the Gulf nations have stopped issuing visas to Pakistani nationals.

According to Pakistan’s Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development data, more than 7,800 Pakistanis were deported from 2019-2025 for various charges, including begging. Pakistan started cancelling passports of deportees in 2025.

Asif stated that Pakistani airport staff was also involved in these rackets and mentioned that this “business” is not possible in any city without the support of the administration and the police, Khaleej Times reported.

In the video, when asked by the interviewer about his earnings, the child shared details of what he and his three brothers make Pakistani Rupees (PKR) 12,000 on an average day. The boy revealed that his sibling “acts” and is not specially-abled and his family has purchased a house in Faisalabad.

In December 2024, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and several other Gulf countries imposed an indefinite ban on granting visas to people from at least 30 different cities of Pakistan, following an alarming rise in the number of cases where Pakistani nationals were caught begging or being involved in smuggling, drug trafficking, human trafficking and other criminal offences abroad.

–IANS

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