​‘Our only crime is being Shia’: Pakistani workers say UAE surveillance led to deportations

​‘Our only crime is being Shia’: Pakistani workers say UAE surveillance led to deportations Submitted by MEE staff on Wed, 05/13/2026 - 17:12 Thousands of Pakistani Shia Muslims have been deported from UAE during the Iran war, but profiling of the minority community started much earlier A man holds a portrait of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during the Yaum-e-Ali procession in Hyderabad, Pakistan, in the holy month of Ramadan on 11 March 2026 (Jan Ali Laghari/Pacific Press/Sipa USA) Off The first deportations passed almost unnoticed: a few labourers returning unexpectedly to their villages and towns across Pakistan , without luggage or prior warning to their families. But within weeks, reports of similar expulsions began surfacing across the country. Families started receiving sons, brothers, and fathers, mostly Shia Muslims, who had spent most of their adult lives working in the United Arab Emirates - men who said they were suddenly detained and deported without explanation.