Pakistan sends back 30 deportees to Greece
Allows in 19 migrants with verifiable CNICs; EU says that it is contrary to agreement
A chartered plane carrying 30 migrants without proper documentation was sent back. PHOTO: INP
RAWALPINDI/ISLAMABAD:
A little over a week after the European Union and Pakistan gave a new lease of life to their deportee re-admission treaty, Islamabad refused to accept 30 citizens who had been deported from Europe, citing incomplete documents.
On Thursday morning, a chartered plane landed at the Benazir International Airport in Rawalpindi carrying around 49 illegal migrants who had been arrested in Greece, Austria and Bulgaria.
Pakistan refuses to allow migrants deported from Greece to disembark from plane in Islamabad
However, officials from the Federal Investigation Agency said they could verify the identities of only 19 deportees based on their computerised national identity cards. They were taken into custody while the remaining 30 were not allowed to disembark.
“On the orders of Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, the FIA has not allowed these illegally deported people and the aircraft crew to leave the plane,” the ministry said in a statement.
The refusal to accept the migrants prompted the ambassadors of Greece, Austria and Bulgaria to rush to the airport. They urged immigration authorities to take the remaining men into custody, but in vain.
No space for Pakistani ‘migrants’ on Greece’s floating ‘refugee camp’
In the end, the plane flew back with the 30 deportees on board.
Nineteen people, who hailed from Gujrat, Mandi Bahauddin, Dera Ghazi Khan and Dera Ismail Khan were shifted to Iqbal Town for detention.
“Illegal deportees from any country who do not hold any proper documentation will be sent back to the respective countries,” the interior ministry statement added.
The incident comes weeks after Nisar said Pakistan was suspending the 2010 readmission agreement with EU. It had prompted EU Commissioner for Migration Dimitris Avramopoulos to visit Islamabad and assure the minister that Pakistan’s apprehensions and legal requirements would be fulfilled.
‘Pakistan ready to take back illegal migrants entering EU’
However, it seems that the deal has yet to be salvaged.
“Despite having settled all issues with the European Commissioner, Pakistani laws have been violated, which absolutely cannot be allowed,” Nisar added in the statement.
EU perplexed
The EU representative office in Pakistan, was perplexed at the move. In a statement, it said that Pakistan had initially been communicated a list with 61 names from three European countries. But the interior ministry said that only those deportees would be accepted whose CNIC numbers were known and verifiable.
“This [CNIC] requirement is not part of the EU – Pakistan Readmission Agreement, which refers to travel documents issued by Pakistani authorities,” the statement added.
Pakistan to demand ‘proof’ of terror charges for deportees
However, after being issued travel documents by the respective Pakistani missions in the three EU countries, the deportees were put on board the chartered aircraft . But in Rawalpindi, the FIA said they had advance notification of 38 deportees, and of those on the plane only 19 were verified.
“It was hoped that the Pakistani authorities verify the CNIC numbers of the illegal migrants who received travel documents from the Pakistani embassies,” it said.
“Obviously EU member states do not have access to this internal information [Nadra records of CNICs] – only Pakistan has that.”
The EU argued that the deportees were travelling on Pakistani documents and that sufficient time had been provided to the concerned authorities in Pakistan to track their CNICs. Last year, about 21,000 Pakistanis who were in Europe without permission were ordered to return home. An estimated 50,000 Pakistanis travel legally to Europe for work each year.
Greece denies it faces Schengen suspension over migrants
Deportees on Canadian documents won’t be accepted
The interior ministry on Wednesday wrote to Canadian authorities warning that any citizen being deported must carry documents issued by the government of Pakistan.
A spokesperson for the ministry said that the Canadian High Commission in Islamabad had been told that the deportation of any citizen on documents issued by any country other than the country of their origin was a violation of international laws and human rights.
In the letter, the ministry warned that Pakistan would not accept any deportee from Canada travelling with Canadian emergency travel documents nor will it allow immigration to any government official escorting these deportees.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 4th, 2015.
A little over a week after the European Union and Pakistan gave a new lease of life to their deportee re-admission treaty, Islamabad refused to accept 30 citizens who had been deported from Europe, citing incomplete documents.
On Thursday morning, a chartered plane landed at the Benazir International Airport in Rawalpindi carrying around 49 illegal migrants who had been arrested in Greece, Austria and Bulgaria.
Pakistan refuses to allow migrants deported from Greece to disembark from plane in Islamabad
However, officials from the Federal Investigation Agency said they could verify the identities of only 19 deportees based on their computerised national identity cards. They were taken into custody while the remaining 30 were not allowed to disembark.
“On the orders of Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, the FIA has not allowed these illegally deported people and the aircraft crew to leave the plane,” the ministry said in a statement.
The refusal to accept the migrants prompted the ambassadors of Greece, Austria and Bulgaria to rush to the airport. They urged immigration authorities to take the remaining men into custody, but in vain.
No space for Pakistani ‘migrants’ on Greece’s floating ‘refugee camp’
In the end, the plane flew back with the 30 deportees on board.
Nineteen people, who hailed from Gujrat, Mandi Bahauddin, Dera Ghazi Khan and Dera Ismail Khan were shifted to Iqbal Town for detention.
“Illegal deportees from any country who do not hold any proper documentation will be sent back to the respective countries,” the interior ministry statement added.
The incident comes weeks after Nisar said Pakistan was suspending the 2010 readmission agreement with EU. It had prompted EU Commissioner for Migration Dimitris Avramopoulos to visit Islamabad and assure the minister that Pakistan’s apprehensions and legal requirements would be fulfilled.
‘Pakistan ready to take back illegal migrants entering EU’
However, it seems that the deal has yet to be salvaged.
“Despite having settled all issues with the European Commissioner, Pakistani laws have been violated, which absolutely cannot be allowed,” Nisar added in the statement.
EU perplexed
The EU representative office in Pakistan, was perplexed at the move. In a statement, it said that Pakistan had initially been communicated a list with 61 names from three European countries. But the interior ministry said that only those deportees would be accepted whose CNIC numbers were known and verifiable.
“This [CNIC] requirement is not part of the EU – Pakistan Readmission Agreement, which refers to travel documents issued by Pakistani authorities,” the statement added.
Pakistan to demand ‘proof’ of terror charges for deportees
However, after being issued travel documents by the respective Pakistani missions in the three EU countries, the deportees were put on board the chartered aircraft . But in Rawalpindi, the FIA said they had advance notification of 38 deportees, and of those on the plane only 19 were verified.
“It was hoped that the Pakistani authorities verify the CNIC numbers of the illegal migrants who received travel documents from the Pakistani embassies,” it said.
“Obviously EU member states do not have access to this internal information [Nadra records of CNICs] – only Pakistan has that.”
The EU argued that the deportees were travelling on Pakistani documents and that sufficient time had been provided to the concerned authorities in Pakistan to track their CNICs. Last year, about 21,000 Pakistanis who were in Europe without permission were ordered to return home. An estimated 50,000 Pakistanis travel legally to Europe for work each year.
Greece denies it faces Schengen suspension over migrants
Deportees on Canadian documents won’t be accepted
The interior ministry on Wednesday wrote to Canadian authorities warning that any citizen being deported must carry documents issued by the government of Pakistan.
A spokesperson for the ministry said that the Canadian High Commission in Islamabad had been told that the deportation of any citizen on documents issued by any country other than the country of their origin was a violation of international laws and human rights.
In the letter, the ministry warned that Pakistan would not accept any deportee from Canada travelling with Canadian emergency travel documents nor will it allow immigration to any government official escorting these deportees.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 4th, 2015.