MPs take up 'arbitrary' offloading issue

The National Assembly Standing Committee on Interior and Narcotics Control on Thursday sought a detailed response from the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) within a week over complaints of passengers being offloaded from airports despite possessing valid travel documents.

The issue was raised during a committee meeting at Parliament House chaired by Raja Khurram Nawaz, where National Assembly member (MNA) Chaudhry Naseer Abbas Sidhu criticised "arbitrary actions by immigration officials" at airports.

Sidhu told the committee that Pakistani citizens holding valid visas and complete legal documents were still being stopped from travelling without clear justification. "Poor people spend large amounts on air tickets, yet they are offloaded without reason," he said.

Questioning the legal basis on which FIA officials prevent passengers from boarding flights, he urged the government to formulate a transparent and clearly-defined policy on offloading, arguing that passengers were currently being stopped at the discretion of individual officers.

"Whoever an officer decides to stop is stopped without explanation," the lawmaker told the committee, adding that the practice was not only affecting travellers and their families but also damaging the country's foreign exchange inflows.

He highlighted difficulties faced by overseas Pakistanis in obtaining passports and dealing with immigration authorities. He said many Pakistanis who had settled abroad years ago and acquired residency documents in European countries continued to face unnecessary hurdles while travelling to and from Pakistan.

Calling passport issuance a basic right of every Pakistani citizen, Sidhu urged the authorities to minimise delays in the process. He said reports suggested that many applicants were struggling to obtain passports in a timely manner.

"If someone reapplies for a passport, it should still be issued," he said, adding that while penalties for repeated applications could be increased, undue delays were unacceptable. The committee directed the FIA to submit a comprehensive explanation at the next meeting.