KATHMANDU: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has directed Foreign Secretary Shankar Das Bairagi to present a statistical report on Nepalis behind bars in the Gulf nations.

According to a statement issued by the PM’s Secretariat, PM Dahal had summoned Bairagi to his official residence today and asked about the status of Nepalis jailed in the Gulf countries including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Malaysia.

Dahal asked Bairagi to collect information at the earliest so that the government could take necessary actions.

"How many Nepalis are living jailed in the Gulf nations," Dahal asked Bairagi as quoted in the statement, "Please submit to me concrete data on it. The government will take necessary decision (based on it)."

Based on the report, to be submitted by the Ministry, Dahal said, the government would decide alternatives and create job opportunities within the country, the statement read.

Meanwhile, the official informed the Prime Minister that many Nepali migrant workers have been deported back to the country of late, as various oil companies have shut down in the Middle East with the decreasing oil prices.