ISLAMABAD: The newly developed Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) by Ministry of Interior have helped in reducing number of illegal Pakistani immigrants from European countries which was 5279 in 2013 and reached 1711 till November 2016.
Each passing year has been witnessing a declining trend in number of such deportees and thanks to measures adopted to control human trafficking under directions of Minister for Interior, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan.
A data, issued by Interior Division, has showed that the number illegal Pakistani deportees was 4330 in 2014 and 2457 in 2015.
Major reasons of deportation from European Countries was overstay, lost passport, entry refused, illegal entry, own request, illegal stay, voluntary return, revoke residence permit/case, case rejected for asylum, non-payment of tax and fake document.
Meanwhile, when contacted official sources on Saturday said the Government of Pakistan had been taking issue of human trafficking/smuggling very seriously.
The Immigration Wing of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) was regulating movement of international passengers at notified border crossings i.e. air, sea and land.
The strict control over these entry points leaves little room for human traffickers to utilize these points.
However, Pakistan has a long porous border (about 2460 km) with Afghanistan and Iran.
Therefore, the sources said intending emigrants reach European countries by crossing over from Pakistan to Iran and Turkey. From there, they cross over to Greece and other European countries.
The sources said to check/control of human trafficking/ smuggling from Pak-Iran border, Inter Agency Task Force (IATF), having representation from different Ministries/Departments/ Agencies such as IB/ANF/Intelligence Agencies/ Provincial Forces/Pakistan Coast Guards/Rangers/FC etc. has been established.
A summary made by IATF showed that total 2485 interceptions have been made by different Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) during 2014, 4698 during 2015 and 8037 till November 2016.
Of the total, FIA made 1168 interceptions during 2014, 2363 during 2015 and 4139 till November 2016.
The number of interceptions made by Frontier Corps was 1030 during 2014, 1533 during 2015 and 2226 till November 2016.
Coast Guards made 170 interceptions during 2014, 681 during 2015 and 1384 till November 2016.
Balochistan Police/ Levies made 61 interceptions during 2014, 101 during 2015 and 277 till November 2016.
Maritime Security Agency made 06 interceptions during 2014, 03 during 2015 and 11 interceptions till November 2016.
The sources said there exists five (05) FIA Zonal Directorates to investigate and prosecute illegal immigrants/ travelers.
Moreover, on directives of Minister for Interior, Federal Investigation Agency had launched a countrywide crackdown on human smugglers and traffickers during 2015 and was making hectic efforts for identifying agents, facilitators and masterminds of illegal immigrants and rackets involved in such heinous crimes.
The results of this special campaign are very encouraging, the sources added.
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