Governments alarmed as 50-100k Pakistani workers flee to live in Iraq

Fifty thousand Pakistanis have disappeared in Iraq after performing the Shiite religious pilgrimage during the Ashura season in Karbala, according to official Iraqi and Pakistani announcements.

The story was raised by Chaudhry Hussain, the Pakistani Minister of Religious Affairs, who said that 50,000 Pakistanis have disappeared in Iraq in recent years.

Pakistanis and several other nationalities work in Iraq, including Bangladeshis, Indians, Nepalis, and Filipinos. They work as waiters in restaurants, cooks, street cleaners, construction workers, or other simple professions and receive salaries ranging from $15-25 per day, depending on their profession and the area in which they work.

According to Iraqi law, non-citizens working in Iraq must obtain a work permit and a residence permit that is renewed every one or two years. This is only obtained after meeting several conditions, and there must be an employer who is responsible for submitting the application for the worker who will work for him.

The Iraqi Ministry of Labor said in an official statement that there are one million foreign workers in Iraq, but only 71,000 of them are registered with official documents.

Abdul Amir Taqi, a director in the Iraqi Ministry of Labor, told The Media Line that the number of Pakistanis in Iraq has reached more than 100,000 people, most of whom work in crafts, construction, delivery, restaurants, and other simple professions.

Taqi added, "These 50,000 that the Pakistani minister talked about did not come during this season only. We checked the matter with the Iraqi Ministry of Interior. The number of people who visited Iraq from Pakistan during the Ashura season of 2024 was 88,427 people, and 84,251 of them were able to, which means that only 4,176 people are still inside the country." 

He also said, "We are facing a big problem with these people. They visit Iraq for religious visits, and then they leak into the labor market, work illegally and without obtaining permits, and for wages lower than those of Iraqis, and this will cause an imbalance in the labor market in Iraq."

The month of Muharram is one of the most important religious tourism seasons for Shiites, especially in Iraq, as it commemorates the killing of Imam Hussein. Iraq celebrates it for two months, starting from the Islamic New Year on the 1st of Muharram until the 20th of Safar.

During the Ashura season, millions of Shiites from around the world visit Iraq to commemorate this occasion in the cities of Karbala and Najaf, south of Baghdad - Where the shrine of Imam Hussein and his father Imam Ali is located according to what the Shiites believe - as official Iraqi statistics indicate that during the Ashura season of 2022, 6 million Shiites from outside Iraq visited Iraq.

About a month ago, Iraq opened its doors to foreign visitors to participate in commemorating religious occasions, and among the delegations were citizens from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and other Arab and Islamic countries.

After announcing the start of the investigation into the missing Pakistani visitors in Iraq, the Iraqi authorities issued several announcements indicating the arrest of a number of Pakistani citizens in several Iraqi regions and cities.

 According to these statements, a number of Pakistanis were arrested in Erbil Governorate, the capital of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, which is more than 500 kilometers away from Karbala, the location of the Shiite visitors. Another group of bandits was also arrested on the international road linking Baghdad and Amman, more than 350 kilometers away from Karbala, and other groups were arrested in the capital, Baghdad, 100 kilometers away from Karbala.

Shamil Al-Ghariri, a brigadier general in the Iraqi police, told The Media Line, “Security measures will be tightened for visitors from several countries, especially Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, and other Asian countries.”

Al-Ghariri added, “Iraq grants entry visas for visits only, but the issue of work has other controls, but due to the large number of visitors in Karbala, it is not possible to control all these numbers, and Pakistanis have infiltrated through the desert and unofficial routes to other regions and governorates for work.”

Regarding whether these Pakistanis pose a threat by joining any terrorist organization, Shamil said, “We do not rule out anything. They come in search of money, and if they do not find it at work, they may join any of the terrorist organizations that pay money to those who work with them. The mere presence of someone illegally in the country poses a threat, and all possibilities are possible.”

The Pakistani Minister's statements in the media were contrary to what Brigadier General Shamil said, as the Pakistani Minister of Religious Affairs confirmed that these people are looking for "work and money" and are not terrorists and will not join any terrorist organizations.

Mahdi Al-Haidari, the owner of a company that transports Shiite pilgrims to the holy shrines, told The Media Line, “We transport Pakistani visitors to Iraq via planes and across the border with Iran. Those who come by plane pay around $1,200 for a 10-day visit, and those who come by car pay $800.”

Al-Haidari also said, “We take their passports and leave them with us for several reasons, including ensuring that pilgrims do not lose them during the Ashura rituals and in the crowds. We also want to ensure that they leave Iraq because we are responsible for them.”

He continued, “Indeed, some of these pilgrims did not return, and we did not find them in the hotel or in their place of residence. We do not know where they went, and we informed the Iraqi authorities about that.”

Bashir al-Najafi

During this issue, accusations emerged that a Shiite cleric named Bashir al-Najafi was behind the matter. He is a cleric of Pakistani origin who resides in the Iraqi province of Najaf, one of the holy places for Shiite Muslims.

Iraqi politicians and parties accused cleric Bashir al-Najafi of agreeing with several tourism companies that handle the mission of visitors to the holy shrines to receive money for each person and allow them to work inside Iraq.

Shahab al-Khalidi, a prominent Iraqi politician, told The Media Line, "This cleric promised Pakistanis to obtain Iraqi citizenship in exchange for $10,000 from each person. These accusations are documented, and we have evidence for them."

Al-Khalidi added, "He also promised any Pakistani who wanted to get work inside Iraq that he would handle the matter for $2,000 per person, in coordination with the tourism companies that handled the mission of Pakistani visitors."

He continued, "This matter was done in coordination with a number of Iraqi political figures and corrupt officers. It is not new, and everyone knows about it, but no one is taking any legal steps against Bashir al-Najafi because he is a Shiite cleric and cannot be touched."

Al-Khalidi also said, “Some of these people are already working as guards for the Shiite cleric Bashir al-Najafi for money, and in the coming period, we will see a new militia in Iraq made up of Pakistanis, and they will join the Popular Mobilization Forces (an Iranian-backed militia group), and they will get support from the state, this is what I expect.”

Eyewitnesses confirmed to The Media Line that illegal houses have been built on some state-owned lands on the outskirts of Najaf, inhabited by thousands of Pakistanis. Several videos have been circulated of these areas inhabited by Pakistanis.

Ahmed Al-Hadi, an Iraqi citizen from Najaf, told The Media Line, "There are houses built in several areas, including the Al-Mukarama neighborhood, an area inhabited by the Shiite cleric Bashir Al-Najaf, and inhabited by Pakistanis. No police or army vehicles enter it."

Al-Hadi also added, "There are several other areas in which houses have been built. These houses are illegal and are made of bricks only. Their roofs are usually made of palm fronds or aluminum. Some of them are on the farms of the cleric Bashir Al-Najaf and near the Najaf Sea."

He continued, "I witnessed the arrival of a group of Pakistanis there. They arrived in trucks, got out of them, and immediately started working on building their houses. Within hours, these houses were ready, as they are random houses as can be seen from afar."

He continued, "We see them working on the farms of the cleric Bashir al-Najafi, and no one knows what they are doing, but what we know is that they are the ones the Iraqi government is looking for, but no police car can enter, as some of them have been assigned to carry weapons and stand on the borders of these areas and farms, and they form a guard for them."

The office of Shiite cleric Bashir al-Najafi responded to The Media Line’s inquiry about the accusations against him with a short message, saying, “Ayatollah Bashir al-Najafi has no knowledge of what is happening. He is only busy with religious matters.”

Ali Mahdi, an Iraqi politician, told The Media Line: “These practices have become commonplace, and they aim to change the demographics of the Iraqi province of Najaf. They bring Shiites from outside Iraq and attribute them to Iraq through forging IDs and passports, and then they are counted as Iraqis.” 

He continued: “The original people of Najaf are being displaced to other areas, and these people are coming in their place. The Iraqi government must take immediate measures to get them out of Iraq.”

Osama Al-Shuaibi, an Iraqi journalist specializing in international affairs, told The Media Line, “So far, it seems that the Pakistanis have come only for work, but it is not unlikely that they will be recruited later to fight, whether in the Popular Mobilization Forces or other Shiite militias since they are Shiite Muslims.”

Al-Shuaibi also said, “We do not rule out that they will be recruited to fight in Syria or even Lebanon. Iran exploits everything to its advantage, but so far, what has happened is chaos, and the Iraqis will pay the price, whether they lose their jobs in the labor market or even suffer from the terrorism of these people.”

Pakistani press quoted Pakistani religious affairs secretary Zulfiqar Haider as saying that a directorate for visitors to Iraq and Iran would be established, similar to the Pakistani directorate that organizes pilgrims’ travel to Mecca.