Saudi Arabia, where about a million Pakistanis work, has agreed to allocate a special quota for taking workers from the earthquake-affected areas, Federal Minister for Labour, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis Ghulam Sarwar Khan said on Saturday.
He told a news conference after return from a week's visit to the kingdom that the Saudi Deputy Labour Minister promised recruitment from the quake zone when he met him.
Sarwar Khan visited Saudi Arabia and Bahrain as a special envoy of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.
He said the Deputy Minister also promised to consider the proposal under which Pakistani companies operating in Saudi Arabia would be facilitated to import 100 per cent manpower from Pakistan, he said noting that natural disaster made an estimated one million jobless.
The Minister said he also met Saudi Interior Minister Prince Naif, who agreed in principle with his proposal for sending Pakistanis jailed in the kingdom to Pakistan to complete their terms here.
He said Prince Naif suggested a meeting between senior officials from the interior ministries of the two countries to discuss the modalities.
Sarwar Khan said implementation of the proposal would relieve burden on jails in the kingdom and also provide relief to the prisoners and their families.
He said there were 4,951 Pakistanis in various jails in Saudi Arabia on the charges of illegal entry on forged documents and drug trafficking.