Amid escalating regional tensions linked to the US and Israel’s conflict with Iran, reports reveal that over 7,500 Pakistani Shiite workers have been expelled from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in recent weeks without any prior warning. According to Reuters, these workers were not only dismissed from their jobs but also faced bank account freezes and asset seizures in some cases. Several of the expelled workers stated that they were not allowed to withdraw savings, close bank accounts, or even collect their personal belongings. Others, after brief detentions, were directly transferred to the airport and sent back to Pakistan. Local sources in Pakistan assert that the actual number of expelled workers is likely higher than reported and that the repatriation process is ongoing. The dismissed workers told media outlets they received no official explanation for their expulsion. They said that security inquiries predominantly focused on religious matters and possible links to Iran. Some workers emphasized, “We committed no violations; we were only Shiite.” At the same time, reports from Qatar indicate that Pakistani Shiite workers there face similar restrictions, raising concerns about the potential spread of this trend to other Gulf countries. The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs has yet to provide any explanation regarding the criteria for these expulsions. In contrast, Pakistan\u2019s Ministry of Interior stated that these actions were “not sectarian” but due to “violations of residency laws.” Nevertheless, a senior official in Islamabad unofficially remarked that Pakistan\u2019s economic and political ties with the UAE have prevented serious tension between the two nations. Michael Page, Deputy Middle East Director at Human Rights Watch, described the process as “deeply troubling” and announced the organization’s launch of an official investigation into possible human rights violations against the workers. He emphasized that freezing bank accounts and seizing property without legal procedures constitutes a clear violation of human rights. According to existing data, about 1.8 million Pakistanis work in the UAE, sending nearly $6 billion annually back to their country. The expulsion of thousands of workers and the confiscation of their assets could place additional pressure on Pakistan\u2019s already crisis-stricken economy. The expelled workers were primarily employed in construction, services, transport, and retail sectors, with many having worked in the UAE for years and holding all their savings in local bank accounts. Currently, the families of these workers in Pakistan face a severe livelihood crisis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Over 7,500 Pakistani Shiite workers expelled from UAE amid US-Israel tensions with Iran, raising human rights concerns and impacting Pakistan’s economy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13737,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-important-news","category-international"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13738"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13738\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}