Iraq Denies Claims about ‘Disappearance’ of 50,000 Pakistanis in its Territories

Baghdad and Islamabad deny disappearance of 50,000 Pakistanis in Iraq. (EPA)
Baghdad and Islamabad deny disappearance of 50,000 Pakistanis in Iraq. (EPA)
TT
20

Iraq Denies Claims about ‘Disappearance’ of 50,000 Pakistanis in its Territories

Baghdad and Islamabad deny disappearance of 50,000 Pakistanis in Iraq. (EPA)
Baghdad and Islamabad deny disappearance of 50,000 Pakistanis in Iraq. (EPA)

The case of the “disappearance” of 50,000 Pakistanis in Iraq continued to stir debate as people flocked to Iraq’s Karbala to visit religious sites.

The issue has also shed light on how some tourists and visitors to the religious sites exploit their trips to find jobs in Iraq without an official permit.

In a statement on Sunday, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry revealed that it had contacted Pakistan’s Minister of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Chaudhry Salik Hussain to clarify his remarks about the disappearance.

The minister confirmed that there was a misunderstanding about his comments, refuting media claims that 50,000 had gone missing, it added.

He revealed that he would be summoning the media outlet that published the false news.

The minister had tweeted on the X platform that the Iraqi ambassador in Pakistan had informed him that 50,000 Pakistanis had failed to return home after visiting Karbala.

The minister then posted a clarification, saying that his remarks “were taken out of context and used to harm Pakistan.”

In fact, the figure of 50,000 refers to numbers unaccounted for in recent years, not this year alone, he stressed. Moreover, these people have not gone missing; rather, they have not returned home.

He stressed that they are not affiliated with any party or organization – a reference to claims that the Pakistanis may have been recruited to join armed groups.

Iraqi authorities have been grappling with the illegal employment of foreign workers given the unemployment and low job opportunities in the country.

The illegal presence of foreigners has also caused security problems. In mid-July, security forces announced that they busted a Pakistani cell that had kidnapped a fellow Pakistani in Baghdad.

Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Iranians and Syrians often flock to Iraq to visit religious sites or for tourism in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region. Some have exploited their presence there to take up jobs illegally.

Official figures have revealed that some 800,000 foreigners are working in Iraq without legal permits.

In an attempt to curb the phenomenon, authorities said employers could grant their foreign workers a one-year work permit.

This puts the ball in the employers and workers’ court to sort out their legal affairs, an official source at the labor ministry told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Security forces in Baghdad announced on Sunday the arrest of 69 foreigners for working in Iraq illegally.



Syria’s National Dialogue Conference Is in Flux Amid Pressure for Political Transition 

03 January 2025, Syria, Damascus: Syrian leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa stands during a meeting at the presidential palace in Damascus. (dpa)
03 January 2025, Syria, Damascus: Syrian leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa stands during a meeting at the presidential palace in Damascus. (dpa)
TT
20

Syria’s National Dialogue Conference Is in Flux Amid Pressure for Political Transition 

03 January 2025, Syria, Damascus: Syrian leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa stands during a meeting at the presidential palace in Damascus. (dpa)
03 January 2025, Syria, Damascus: Syrian leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa stands during a meeting at the presidential palace in Damascus. (dpa)

An official with the committee preparing a national dialogue conference in Syria to help chart the country's future said Friday that it has not been decided whether the conference will take place before or after a new government is formed.

The date of the conference has not been set and the timing "is up for discussion by the citizens," Hassan al-Daghim, spokesperson for the committee, told The Associated Press in an interview in Damascus Friday.

"If the transitional government is formed before the national dialogue conference, this is normal," he said. On the other hand, he said, "the caretaker government may be extended until the end of the national dialogue."

The conference will focus on drafting a constitution, the economy, transitional justice, institutional reform and how the authorities deal with Syrians, al-Daghim said. The outcome of the national dialogue will be non-binding recommendations to the country’s new leaders.

"However, these recommendations are not only in the sense of advice and formalities," al-Daghim said. "They are recommendations that the President of the republic is waiting for in order to build on them."

After former President Bashir Assad was toppled in a lightning opposition offensive in December, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the main former opposition group now in control of Syria, set up an interim administration comprising mainly of members of its "salvation government" that had ruled in northwestern Syria.

They said at the time that a new government would be formed through an inclusive process by March. In January, former HTS leader Ahmad al-Sharaa was named Syria’s interim president after a meeting of most of the country’s former opposition factions. The groups agreed to dissolve the country's constitution, the former national army, security service and official political parties.

The armed groups present at the meetings also agreed to dissolve themselves and for their members to be absorbed into the new national army and security forces. Notably absent was the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which holds sway in northeastern Syria.

There has been international pressure for al-Sharaa to follow through on promises of an inclusive political transition. UN special envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen said this week that formation of a "new inclusive government" by March 1 could help determine whether Western sanctions are lifted as the country rebuilds.

Al-Daghim said the decisions taken in the meeting of former opposition factions in January dealt with "security issues that concern the life of every citizen" and "these sensitive issues could not be postponed" to wait for an inclusive process.

In recent weeks, the preparatory committee has been holding meetings in different parts of Syria to get input ahead of the main conference. Al-Daghim said that in those meetings, the committee had heard a broad consensus on the need for "transitional justice and unity of the country."

"There was a great rejection of the issue of quotas, cantons, federalization or anything like this," he said.

But he said there was "disagreement on the order of priorities." In the coastal cities of Latakia and Tartous, for instance, many were concerned about the low salaries paid to government workers, while in Idlib and suburbs of Damascus that saw vast destruction during nearly 14 years of civil war, reconstruction was the priority.

The number of participants to be invited to the national conference has not yet been determined and may range from 400 to 1,000, al-Daghim said, and could include religious leaders, academics, artists, politicians and members of civil society, including some of the millions of Syrians displaced outside the country.

The committee has said that the dialogue would include members of all of Syria's communities, but that people affiliated with Assad's government and armed groups that refuse to dissolve and join the national army -- chief among them the SDF -- would not be invited.

Al-Daghim said Syria's Kurds would be part of the conference even if the SDF is not.

"The Kurds are a component of the people and founders of the Syrian state," he said. "They are Syrians wherever they are."