Re: Israel vs Palestine/Lebanon/Iran/Yemen/Syria: a New Middle East War
Posted by shaberon
(here)
A round of
downsizing:
UAE deports tens of thousands of Pakistanis, seizes their savings
Authorities in the UAE are conducting a sweeping deportation campaign targeting tens of thousands of Pakistani workers, freezing their bank accounts and stripping them of their life savings amid growing regional fallout from the US-Israeli aggression on Iran.
While initial reports from New Lines Magazine placed the number of expelled individuals at 15,000, Pakistani sources recently confirmed to Press TV that the deportations are continuing at a rapid pace and now affect tens of thousands of workers.
The expulsions target Shia Muslims or individuals who have publicly expressed solidarity with Tehran following the recent US-Israeli aggression against Iran.
Those targeted are being expelled without formal charges or legal recourse. The systematic removals involve sudden arrests, phone confiscations, and transfers between various detention facilities before the workers are forced onto flights back to Pakistan.
Crucially, deportees are being sent back "without being given the opportunity to withdraw their funds" from Emirati banks, according to a Shia cleric cited by New Lines Magazine.
This sudden seizure of assets has left many families in financial ruin, stripping workers—some of whom spent decades contributing to the Emirati economy—of their entire life savings.
Mohammad Amin Shaheedi, chief of Ummat-e-Wahida Pakistan, told the magazine that following the outbreak of the war, the UAE government launched “what appears to be an organized campaign to deport Shia individuals from the country.”
Hassan Muahammad Zaidi
For 15 Pakistani employees of
@Etihad
—including veterans with nearly two decades of service—the end came at an immigration office.
The order was brutal and final: You have 48 hours to leave the country.
#UAEdeportsPakistanis
[url]https://x.com/xaidi_hassan/status/2051690729517486378
The Cradle
May 4
UAE deports thousands of Pakistani workers, blocks them from accessing life savings: Report
https://x.com/TheCradleMedia/status/2051314943434084566
https://thecradle.co/articles-id/37494#google_vignette
UAE deports thousands of Pakistani workers, blocks them from accessing life savings: Report
Many Shia Pakistanis have been targeted by Emirati authorities amid a wave of arrests and layoffs since the start of the war on Iran
News Desk
MAY 4, 2026
UAE authorities have detained and deported as many as 15,000 Pakistanis, many of whom are Shia Muslims, without formal charges or clear explanations, according to testimonies published by New Lines Magazine on 29 April.
The reported removals come as UAE–Pakistan ties face strain following the US-Israeli war on Iran and Pakistan’s expanding mediation role.
The accounts describe a similar pattern of sudden arrests, phone confiscations, transfers between police sites, detention at Al-Awir, and rapid deportation on flights to Pakistan.
Sarah Ali told New Lines that her husband, Taha, was detained on 12 April during an overnight shift in Dubai after officers saw his name and photo appear in a police system.
“He was in complete shock,” Ali said, adding, “They showed him his photo and asked what he had done. Then they told him, ‘We’re really sorry, but we can’t not take your phone away from you, because they’re watching us.’”
Ali said no charges were ever presented against her husband, who was deported to Faisalabad less than a week after his arrest.
Many of those expelled had spent decades working in the UAE, where migrant remittances remain a critical source of income for families and foreign exchange for Pakistan.
Mohammad Amin Shaheedi, a senior Shia cleric and chief of Ummat-e-Wahida Pakistan, told New Lines that the UAE had launched “what appears to be an organized campaign to deport Shia individuals from the country.”
Shaheedi said around 5,000 Pakistani Shia families, comprising roughly 15,000 people, had been affected.
“They were reportedly sent back with little more than the clothes on their backs, without being given the opportunity to withdraw their funds from banks or settle their financial affairs,” he said.
Several deportees alleged that identity tracking may have been used, including Emirates ID scans at Shia religious sites.
Shaheedi said Shia identity had “reportedly been determined through biometric fingerprint data collected in the past, particularly during their visits to Shia mosques and places of worship.”
Others described harsh detention conditions, including strip searches, poor food, restraints, and physical abuse.
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tahir Andrabi denied the deportations when contacted by New Lines.
Migrant workers in the UAE have also faced broader abuses under the kafala system, which leaves them exposed to wage theft, passport confiscation, and restrictions on movement.
Their situation deteriorated further during the US war on Iran, when many workers were excluded from emergency evacuation measures and denied access to bomb shelters often reserved for citizens.
Delivery drivers, security guards, laborers, and other migrant workers were left exposed during the attacks, despite making up much of the UAE workforce.
Authorities had also launched a crackdown on dissent, arresting hundreds of migrant workers over videos of the attacks posted online or comments that challenged official security narratives.
The legal pressure came alongside severe economic fallout, with workers reportedly placed on unpaid leave, dismissed without compensation, or forced to pay for their own repatriation while trapped in an increasingly dangerous environment.
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