ISLAMABAD, Jan 10 (APP): Senate Standing Committee on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development was informed on Friday that efforts were being made to send Pakistani skilled workforce to Japan by activating the Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) signed between the two countries last month.
“We are in constant contact with the Japanese government to operationalize the MoC at the earliest and have held a meeting at the counselor-level , accordingly,” Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment Director General Kashif Noor told the committee which met here with Senator Hilal-ur-Rehman in the chair.
He apprised the committee that the overseas ministry had shared proposals and put some questions before the Japanese authorities in the meeting took place last week.
The proposed actions included establishment of Japanese language testing facility, skill development of Pakistani workers as per Japanese requirement and provision of the Overseas Employment Promoters list to Japan, he added.
Kashif said the MoC signed with Japan would open up new avenues for Pakistanis to work in 14 Japanese sectors including construction, information technology, nursing, manufacturing, engineering and others.
He pointed out that Japan was facing serious shortage of workers at the moment due to aging society and shrinking population.
He said the MoC with Japan would be implemented on the pattern of the government-to-government contract already in place with South Korea under which the intending emigrants had to qualify their language and skill tests.
The Japanese delegation was likely to visit the Overseas Employment Corporation (OEC) here to inspect the procedural system being followed to recruit Pakistani skilled manpower for South Korea, he added.
Responding to a query raised by Senator Nighat Mirza, Kashif said, “Japan will not compromise on language and skill criterion requires for getting jobs there.”
He said the overseas ministry was in constant contact with the National Vocational and Technical Training Commission, provincial Technical Education and Training Authorities and the language institutes to set up language and skill centers in every province to impart the youth Japanese language and skills at par with Japan’s labour market demand.
The committee also discussed the issue of a Pakistani, Wajahat Butt, locked up in Liwan Detention Centre, Guanghou for alleged murder of a Chinese national while committing robbery.
The committee was told by Wajahat’s father that last year, his son was falsely entangled in that case by his employer who was an Afghan national and was hostile towards the accused for his Pakistani nationality.
A senior officer of Foreign Office said initially, the Chinese consulate informed Pakistani Mission in China that Wajahat was being trialed for robbery but later was charged with alleged murder of the Chinese national as well.
He said the murdered Chinese belonged to Muslim community and Wajahat’s Uncle had persuaded them for the out of court settlement.
The deceased family agreed to the out of court settlement and demanded some Rs 8 million which the Foreign Office (FO) could not pay from the community welfare fund.
As per law, the community welfare fund was aimed at facilitating the welfare of blue-collar Pakistani workers and those Pakistanis who were involved in petty crimes abroad.
The committee passed the recommendation to the Bait-ul-Mal to play their role for the payment of blood money in Wajahat’s case.
The committee also directed the Pakistani International Airline to pay overtime allowances to an employee of the national airline posted at Damam Airport, Saudi Arabia.
Committee Chairman Hilal-ur-Rehman, who took a notice of the plight of Pakistanis languishing in Jungle Migrants Camp at Vucjak site of Bosnia, directed the FO to make efforts for their repatriation.
To this, the FO’s senior officer said they were well aware of the issue and arranged a proper facility for the Pakistani migrants far from the Bosnian border.
Unfortunately, they were not willing to leave the camp and return to the country, he added.
Submitting the compliance report on 400 human trafficking case referred by the overseas ministry, a senior officer of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) told the committee that the agency had received some 190 letters from the ministry, besides 210 complaints against the illegal agents, fraudulent Overseas Employment Promoters and multiple sites involved in luring citizens by spreading false information about overseas employment opportunities.
He said the First Information Reports in two cases had been lodged while 68 cases were in verification stage and 92 were being inquired.
