The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Rights, chaired by Aga Rafiullah, was briefed on the alarming trend of Pakistanis being deported from various countries for begging and illegal migration.
Director General of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) informed the committee that 51,000 Pakistanis were offloaded from foreign countries this year for begging. Saudi Arabia deported the highest number, 24,000 individuals, followed by the United Arab Emirates with 6,000, and Azerbaijan with 2,500.
The committee was told that some individuals attempting to travel to Europe under the pretext of performing Umrah were also offloaded after authorities verified documents and found them suspicious.
The FIA official further revealed that 24,000 Pakistanis traveled to Cambodia this year, of which 12,000 have not returned, and 4,000 went to Myanmar on tourist visas, with 2,500 still abroad. He said that stricter measures to prevent illegal migration have improved Pakistan’s passport ranking from 118 to 92 globally. Previously, Pakistan was among the top five countries for illegal migration, but the country has now been removed from that list.
In Europe, illegal migration dropped from 8,000 last year to 4,000 this year. Overall, Saudi Arabia has deported 56,000 Pakistanis for begging in recent years.
The DG also announced that Dubai and Germany have granted visa-free access to holders of Pakistani official passports. A new “e-Migration” application is expected to launch by mid-January, allowing travelers to complete immigration procedures 24 hours before departure.
In a separate disclosure, the FIA chief noted that Pakistanis have been traveling illegally from Ethiopia and Zambia to Europe. He cited a case where a fake football club took a team to Japan, and even an unrelated person managed to travel with them.
