ISLAMABAD: Islamabad’s new ambassador to Riyadh, Lt. Gen. (r) Bilal Akbar, will personally receive calls from the Pakistani community in Saudi Arabia on Monday, the embassy announced on Sunday.
Ambassador Akbar assumed his responsibilities last week in the wake of an inquiry into Riyadh mission officials over what Prime Minister Imran Khan has said was their failure to adequately take care of Pakistani workers based in Saudi Arabia.
“Ambassador of Pakistan to KSA, Bilal Akbar will receive direct calls from Pakistan community in the Kingdom on 03 May 2021,” the Pakistani embassy announced in a Twitter post and shared the number under which the ambassador will be available between 11 a.m. and 12 p.m. local time.
Ambassador of Pakistan to KSA, Bilal Akbar will receive direct calls from community in the Kingdom on 03 May 2021, during 1100-1200 hrs, at the following number: 0114824842.
— Pakistan Embassy Saudi Arabia (@PakinSaudiArab) May 2, 2021
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s outgoing ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Raja Ali Ejaz, has been suspended and several members of the mission’s staff have been recalled. Syed Zulfikar Bukhari, the prime minister’s adviser on overseas Pakistani, told media on Friday that complaints against the embassy officials had come from multiple expat workers over recent months.
On the PM’s orders, his office on Friday formed a team to investigate complaints by expat Pakistani laborers, which included accusations of “inefficiency” in the provision of services, “extorting and fleecing” and failure to resolve the diaspora’s problems.
There are over two million Pakistanis working and living in Saudi Arabia.
During the current fiscal year, they remained the single largest contributor to Pakistan’s remittance inflows, and in March alone sent $690.4 million to the country. The overall inflows from the kingdom during the fiscal year amounted to $5.7 billion.
