From the mid-1970s onwards, Pakistanis, for the first time, were given the opportunity to travel to various oil-rich Arab countries for work. Until then, very few Pakistanis actually possessed passports and had to go through a tiresome and expensive procedure to get one.

In 1974 the populist government of ZA Bhutto drastically relaxed the procedure when the opportunity arrived to ship out hordes of Pakistanis to the then rapidly developing oil-rich Arab countries.

These countries needed cheap labour to construct their bridges, roads, hotels and office complexes and skilled professionals in the fields of medicine, teaching, hoteling, engineering and aviation.

The Pakistanis who began to make there way to countries like Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Libya largely belonged to the working class and lower-middle-class sections of the country.