RIYADH: In the past four months, Saudi Arabia deported about 39,000 Pakistanis from the Kingdom for violating the rules of residence and work, Saudi Gazette reported on Tuesday, quoting informed security sources as saying.

They said that multiple Pakistanis were jailed for a number of crimes, like drug trafficking, thefts, forgery and physical assault. Against this backdrop, Abdullah Al-Sadoun, chairman of the security committee of the Shoura Council, called for ‘thoroughly scrutinising’ the Pakistanis before they are recruited for work in the Kingdom.

“Pakistan itself is plagued with ‘terrorism’ due to its close proximity with Afghanistan. The Taliban movement was itself born in Pakistan,” he said.

The sources also stated that a number of Pakistani nationals were allegedly involved in some ‘terrorist’ actions – orchestrated by Daesh – is a cause of public and societal worry.

He asked for closer coordination with the concerned authorities in Pakistan to thoroughly check those coming to work in the Kingdom due to the involvement of a number of Pakistanis in security issues, the report said.

Sadoun said the political and religious inclinations of the Pakistanis coming to work in the Kingdom should be known to both sides before they are recruited for work.