KARACHI: Mohammad Tanveer, 26, has recently returned home from Jeddah after spending about four months in the Samishi camp, about 30 kilometres from Makkah.
A resident of Liaquatabad No 10, Tanveer spoke to Dawn on the phone narrating his experience of being stuck with around 400 Pakistanis in the camp, at times without food and water.
“I was earning about 800 Saudi Riyal per month and it was enough for me to send back home. I had been working there for the past two years. Six months ago, we were informed through a colleague of ours that the company I worked for Saudi Oger Limited was halting construction work for a while in Jeddah,” he said.
Initially, he said, it seemed whatever the company was having would be resolved but then a few weeks turned into two months and there was still no salary.
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“We were then asked to be in time at the camp every day. There were around 400 of us and we helped out each other whenever we could. We were then shifted to a small wooden room that was fit enough for three people but we had to accommodate eight and at times 10 people because they had no place to go,” he said.
He along with a few friends went to the Pakistani embassy in Jeddah a month ago. “When we were done informing them of our grievances, the officer there told us that no one had asked us to work in Saudi Arabia.”
“We didn’t go there afterwards,” he added.
Tanveer, a mason by profession, then decided to speak to the Saudi authorities. “There’s always a fear of approaching them. Surprisingly, they provided us with food for a few days but then they stopped. Our Iqama or Muqeem card [identity card/ residence permit for expatriates] was also taken away by the construction company. When we approached the police, they said they couldn’t do anything,” he added.
