ISLAMABAD: Nine Pakistani nationals have been deported from Poland after their attempt to enter the European Union through Belarus ended in formal return proceedings.
According to the details, the men were flown out of Kraków-Balice airport on June 29 aboard a Polish military transport aircraft.
According to the Polish Border Guard, all nine had received enforceable return orders after being found without valid residence documents and having crossed the Poland-Belarus border in violation of immigration regulations.
The deportees were identified as Atif Shah, Manzar Khan, Salman Ali, Muhammad Wasim Khan, Mehmood Shah, AtifUllah, Taimoor Ashraf, Ashfaq Khan and Asif Khan, according to identity and tracing details shared with Pakistani authorities.
Behind the administrative record are nine families dealing with the consequences of journeys that failed to deliver the future they had expected.
While speaking to this correspondent after his return, Asif Khan said the unsuccessful attempt had placed his family under considerable financial and emotional pressure.
Asif, originally from Mohmand district and presently residing in Shabqadar, Charsadda, is the father of three sons.
He said the journey had been undertaken with the hope of improving his family’s circumstances and creating better opportunities for his children.
Instead, he returned after losing the resources committed to the trip, and now faces the challenge of rebuilding his life while continuing to support his household.
Asif said the assurances given before departure did not prepare him for the uncertainty surrounding the Belarus route or the possibility that the journey could end in interception and deportation.
Another returnee, Ashfaq Khan, a young resident of Mardan, said the situation he encountered was very different from the expectations created before he left Pakistan.
He said the route had been presented as a manageable passage into Europe.
However, once the journey progressed through Belarus, the migrants faced uncertainty over their movement, strict border controls and the continuing fear that they could be detained.
Ashfaq said his return had affected his entire family because the financial burden of such journeys was rarely carried by the traveler alone.
Parents and siblings often contributed their savings in the belief that successful migration would eventually support the wider household.
Taimoor Ashraf, a resident of Malakwal in MandiBahauddin district, also described the experience as financially damaging and emotionally exhausting.
He said family resources had been committed to the journey, but the plan collapsed before he could reach his intended destination.
He returned to Pakistan carrying the loss of the money spent and the disappointment of a failed migration attempt.
Taimoor said the greatest difficulty was facing his family after returning without the employment or financial security that had originally motivated him to undertake the journey.
The three returnees warned other Pakistanis against relying on agents who portrayed Belarus as an uncomplicated gateway to the European Union.
They said the promises made before departure often omitted the possibility of arrest, detention, deportation and the loss of money borrowed or collected from relatives. The Polish Border Guard’s public statement did not identify the agents involved, disclose how much the men paid or provide details about how long they remained in Belarus or Poland. Neitherdidit specify the conditions they experienced before their return.
However, the verified record confirmed that the men had crossed into Poland from Belarus.
They were deported after the authorities determined that they lacked the documents required to remain in the country.
The case shifts attention towards the people facilitating such journeys from Pakistan.
The men could not have reached the Belarusian frontier without travel arrangements, payments and assurances made before their departure. This creates a need to establish who recruited them, how the journey was advertised, where the money was collected and whether the same facilitators are continuing to approach other families?
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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