From Jihad to Jhola: Pakistan’s Two Most Reliable Exports
Pakistan has finally perfected its export model. After decades of trial and error, the country now has two globally recognised, consistently delivered products. Terrorists and beggars. One destabilises regions, the other humiliates the nation. Both travel well, both embarrass allies, and neither requires industrial policy, innovation, or governance. Saudi Arabia’s recent deportation of tens of thousands of Pakistani beggars was not an immigration issue. It was a quality control rejection.
For years, Islamabad has insisted that Pakistan is misunderstood. That it is a victim of circumstances, geography, history, and unfair global narratives. Yet somehow, whether it is a terror network uncovered in South Asia or organised begging rings exposed in the Gulf, the common thread is always the same. Pakistani passports. Pakistani systems. Pakistani silence.
Think of it as an export economy, Pakistani style. Terrorism was the legacy sector. Built carefully over decades under the illusion of strategic depth, it brought sanctions, watchlists, and global distrust. Now comes the new growth industry. Begging. Lower cost, higher visibility, faster reputational damage. A sunrise sector no one asked for but everyone notices.
Let us be clear. This is not about poverty alone. Poverty exists across South Asia, Africa, and parts of the Arab world. Yet mass overseas begging is not a spontaneous act of desperation. It is organised, facilitated, and protected by networks that know exactly how to exploit religious visas, sympathy, and lax enforcement. When Umrah visas become tools for professional begging, it is not faith on display. It is state failure exported abroad.
Saudi Arabia did not wake up one morning and decide to embarrass Pakistan. Riyadh warned Islamabad. Quietly. Repeatedly. When those warnings were ignored, deportation followed. That is what allies do when patience runs out. They act. Islamabad, meanwhile, responded with the usual routine. Damage control statements, no real accountability, and a desperate attempt to pretend this is an unfortunate misunderstanding rather than a systemic disgrace.
And then there is the other export. The one everyone already knows about. Terrorism. Pakistan has spent decades denying it, rebranding it, outsourcing blame, and insisting that the world separate “good” from “bad” militants. The result has been predictable. Sanctions, blacklists, surveillance, and mistrust. Begging deportations are simply the civilian version of the same story. Different faces, same outcome. Global suspicion.
Who pays the price for this export model? Not the elite. Not the generals who lecture the world from air-conditioned offices. Not the ministers whose children hold foreign passports and never queue at immigration counters. The price is paid by ordinary Pakistanis. Workers, students, pilgrims, and professionals who now face harsher scrutiny, tighter visas, and quiet discrimination because their state refuses to clean its own house.
And then comes the geopolitical comedy. While Donald Trump and strategic thinkers in Washington fantasise about mining rare earths and extracting strategic value from Pakistan and its neighbourhood, reality quietly laughs. A country that cannot prevent its citizens from being deported en masse for begging is being imagined as a responsible custodian of critical minerals. Pakistan does not need geological surveys. Its most abundant, proven resource is human misery, refined and exported with remarkable efficiency.
This is not soft power. This is self-inflicted global shame. When mosques turn into sites of embarrassment and allies turn into enforcers, the moral collapse is complete. No conspiracy is required. No foreign hand is needed. This is the natural outcome of a state that refuses to govern but demands respect.
Pakistan often complains about Islamophobia, prejudice, and unfair treatment. But respect is not a right. It is earned. A state that exports terrorists and beggars cannot lecture the world on dignity. Until Pakistan dismantles the systems that produce both violence and humiliation, deportation flights will remain its most reliable international connection.
