Deportees and readmissions

Thirty out of 49 allegedly illegal immigrants, who had been deported from Europe, were refused entry by Pakistan

The tangled matter of the deportation from European Union (EU) states of Pakistani citizens back to their home country has just got considerably more tangled. The matter revolves around the correct documentation of those deported from EU states as illegal migrants, and concern on the Pakistan side that those being deported are being done so after the application of due process in the country they are deported from. On December 3, a plane landed at Benazir International Airport carrying about 49 allegedly illegal immigrants who had been deported from Greece, Austria and Bulgaria. The identities of 19 of them could be reconciled with information on their Computerised National Identity Cards (CNIC) and they were allowed to disembark; the others were refused entry. A little over a week ago, the matter was thought to have been resolved after urgent discussions with EU representatives, but apparently not. The reason that 30 were denied entry was that their documentation was incomplete. Despite diplomatic pleading by the representatives of Greece, Austria and Bulgaria, the aircraft and its passengers had to leave. The Pakistan position is that those returned had been illegally deported.



This is no storm in a teacup, but a matter of some gravity. It is estimated that around 50,000 Pakistanis illegally enter the EU every year. Incidents like the one that just occurred must not be allowed to become routine and it is for the Interior Ministry to revisit and clarify to the satisfaction of all parties precisely what is and is not acceptable in terms of documents required as valid before repatriation. The EU point that it is unable to access the CNIC records held by Pakistan is valid, and all those on the plane had been issued with travel documents by Pakistan missions abroad. They would not have been issued had our foreign missions not been satisfied that the people they were issuing documents for were indeed Pakistan citizens. While Pakistan has the right to refuse entry to those whose credentials cannot be verified as its nationals, we must remember that the country has signed agreements regarding this with the EU and cannot rescind from them. It appears that there are still unresolved details around repatriation, which require unambiguous definition in the immediate future.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 5^th,  2015.

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