Arbitrary offloading

There is mounting evidence that passengers with valid visas and travel documents, including foreign work permits, are being stopped from boarding flights. What began as a crackdown on human smuggling after back-to-back Greece boat tragedies has mutated into a sweeping exercise of unchecked authority. Instead of targeting criminal networks, immigration desks appear to be targeting ordinary travellers.

In Karachi alone, dozens of passengers were recently stopped in a single sweep. Lahore has seen similar episodes. Chambers of commerce have expressed alarm, as legitimate business travellers are being forced to defend paperwork already vetted by foreign embassies. Deportees from Europe and the Gulf are being placed in the same queue as first-time travellers. The crackdown initially sparked by the horrific boat tragedies has drifted far from its intended target. Rather than dismantling smuggling networks, the system is penalising those who do things legally.

The state has a legitimate responsibility to curb migrant smuggling. But that mandate cannot be pursued through blanket suspicion. Such practices damage more than individual plans. They undermine confidence in legal mobility and reinforce the very conditions that smuggling networks exploit. A proper system is both possible and overdue.

Secondary screening must be based on transparent criteria and there must be an appeals mechanism overseen by a neutral body. Intelligence-led targeting and digital verification along with coordination with destination countries will produce far better outcomes than random profiling. Crucially, those offloaded must be given written reasons and a transparent appeals process. Anything less guarantees abuse.

The crackdown against human traffickers is necessary. But it must be executed against the perpetrators, not against those who have already met every legal requirement. The current approach is inefficient and disruptive — especially taking a toll on those earnestly trying to land a job overseas, given the rising unemployment, currently at a 21-year high of 7.1%, in the country. It is time to replace suspicion with structure.