Pakistan to open schools in Gulf countries for kids of overseas Pakistanis

ISLAMABAD: Overseas Pakistanis Foundation (OPF) Board of Governors (BoG) Chairman Barrister Amjad Malik said Sunday that the current government has launched several welfare programmes for overseas Pakistanis.

He said that Pakistani schools would be set up in Gulf countries to help provide affordable education for children of the overseas community.

Talking to reporters, he said it was the responsibility of the government to provide maximum facilities to over 90 million overseas Pakistanis.

He assured that issues would be resolved on priority basis by ensuring that the Overseas Pakistanis Advisory Council (OPAC) was playing a leading role in this regard.

To a question, he said that due to the current political situation of most Gulf countries, the number of overseas Pakistanis had been declining every passing day and Pakistan was seeking a new labour market to reduce unemployment in its own backyard.

Amjad Malik further said that there were no proper skilled labour training centres in Pakistan, especially like the ones run in Philippines or other states.

He said that he personally visited 23 countries and held meetings with overseas Pakistanis, addressed their issues on the spot and informed them about the upcoming welfare projects launched for them in Pakistan.

He also said that hopefully in the near future overseas Pakistanis would get due representation in the Parliament and overseas banks would also be set up at the embassy level to facilitate overseas Pakistanis.

To another question, Amjad said that more housing schemes would be launched for expatriates and OPF was planning to provide low cost housing to the deceased families of overseas Pakistanis.

He further said that 300 houses would be handed over to overseas allottees in Zone-V within the next three months, adding that after three months, 300 more houses would be handed over to the owners.