Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Monday blamed begging mafia groups for being responsible for the visa restrictions on Pakistanis by Gulf countries.

Last year, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) off-loaded 66,154 passengers to curb organised gangs of beggars and illegal immigrants from travelling abroad.

The FIA director general told the National Assembly Standing Committee on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development that 51,000 of these individuals were stopped due to questionable veracity of their travel documents falling into three main categories: work visas, tourist visas, and Umrah visas.

He had highlighted that illegal migration and begging rings were severely damaging Pakistan’s international image. He reported that 56,000 beggars were deported from Saudi Arabia while the United Arab Emirates had also imposed visa restrictions in view of the phenomenon.

In a post on X on Monday, Asif said: “Begging has become a full-fledged profession. It is completely organised. There are regular contractors who recruit children, women and fake disabled people and earn crores. The same mafia is exporting thousands of these same beggars to Gulf countries. Those countries, fed up, have closed our visas.”

The staff from various government departments deployed at airports were equal partners in the illicit trade, facilitating the movement of beggars abroad and profiting from the operation, the defence minister alleged.