UAE wants a loyalty pledge amid deportation spree of Shia Muslims

The US and Israel-allied state, the UAE, has launched an initiative calling citizens and residents to digitally “reaffirm their dedication to the nation’s core values of unity, coexistence, and tolerance,” as it has also deported 5,000 to 18,000 Shia Pakistanis recently since the US-Israel war on Iran began in February.

The two actions by the Gulf state show it is anxious to ward off working-class solidarity against its alliance with Zionism.

This follows a broader pattern of the UAE aligning with Washington. The Gulf state has reportedly joined US-Israeli strikes on Iran, requested dollar swap lines tying its economy to America, and exited OPEC as part of its “Israelification.”

Iran’s foreign minister has slammed the UAE for being “directly involved in the aggression” against his country, while Netanyahu claims he made a secret visit to the UAE on March 26th, a claim the UAE denied, though flight data suggests otherwise.

Deportation of Pakistani Shia workers in UAE

NPR reported over the weekend accounts from Pakistani Shia men who were deported from the UAE shortly after the US and Israel went to war with Iran.

Pakistani legislators told NPR that anywhere between 5,000 to 18,000 Shia Pakistanis had been deported.

They also reported that Pakistan’s government has called the accounts “vicious propaganda” and refuses to accept what is happening to its own citizens.

Pakistani Shias in the Gulf appear to have become more vulnerable to suspicion amid a regional security climate increasingly sensitive to any perceived connection to Iran, whether religious, social or political

Read more ⬇️https://t.co/qzI1ofZhFV

— MBN English (@MBNEnglish) June 4, 2026

Meanwhile, MBN English reported that Pakistani Shia deportees had their phones searched by UAE authorities for Iranian contacts, their bank accounts frozen, and were given no explanation except “We cannot tell you, but you must leave.”

MBN English reported that a Shia political organization estimated as many as 30,000 Pakistani passport holders may have been affected.

Pledge of loyalty

 

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Nothing says “coexistence” like an online loyalty pledge you can sign from your phone while the government deports thousands of people for being the wrong kind of Muslim.

That’s exactly what the UAE launched on May 20th.

The “Pledge and Commitment” initiative, overseen by the country’s Minister of Tolerance and Coexistence, asks citizens and residents to digitally swear “loyalty and allegiance” to the UAE President, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, through an online form or QR code, all in the name of “unity, stability, and social cohesion.”

The launch event featured more than 4,800 leaders in attendance.

Asad AbuKhalil, a Lebanese-American professor of political science at California State University, Stanislaus, slammed the initiative by the “totalitarian despot of the UAE.”

The totalitarian despot of the UAE is now requiring loyalty pledges. You won’t hear a word of condemnation from the corrupt class of pro-Gulf Lebanese human rights poseurs, journalists, or academics. pic.twitter.com/LS7v3XitqI

— asad abukhalil أسعد أبو خليل (@asadabukhalil) June 6, 2026

He also slammed Lebanese pro-Gulf “human rights poseurs, journalists, and academics” for refusing to utter a single word of condemnation.

Tolerance, in the UAE, is short for compliance with the US and Israel. Sign the pledge, scan the QR code, swear loyalty to the despot, or get deported for being the wrong kind of Muslim.

Featured image via the Canary