Effective 15 August, all religious pilgrims to Iran and Saudi Arabia would have to obtain permission from the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Religious Affairs before being allowed to leave the country. The new restrictions are intended to stop human smuggling under the guise of religious pilgrimage. FIA spokesperson Tariq Khosa denied reports, however, that Pakistani Shiites would be banned from visiting Iran to stop them from sneaking into Lebanon to join the Hezbollah in the fight against Israel.
Pakistan recently hosted a four-day consultation workshop organized by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Islamabad for labor migration officials from 10 countries. The aim of the workshop was to ensure the use of legal channels for labor migration and to discourage brain drain. Delegates from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam participated in the activity. They were given training on running overseas employment programs and were encouraged to share experiences and best labor migration practices.
A chartered plane carrying a group of 78 Pakistanis deported from Spain arrived at the Islamabad airport on 16 July accompanied by 123 police officials. Spanish officials arrested the Pakistanis when the ferry they were on ran out of fuel near the port. The deportees were turned over to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and brought to its detention center in Gujranwala. The deportees claimed that they paid Rs800,000 each to human traffickers who first took them to South Africa, from where they boarded the boat for Spain. Meanwhile, the FIA claimed that it has identified seven human traffickers responsible for sending the deportees to Spain and has filed appropriate charges against them.
Ukraine border guards arrested a group of 14 Pakistanis, 11 Bangladeshis and an Afghan found camping in a forest as they prepared near the border to Slovakia. They were caught while preparing to cross the border to enter the European Union via Slovakia. The guards also apprehended three Palestinians traveling in a car with local human smugglers.
The FIA arrested Mehboob Rasool, the owner of the Global Career Network Immigration, a recruiting agency in the City Tower in Peshawar. The unlicensed agency had allegedly cheated a number of jobseekers with promises of good paying jobs in the UK, Australia and Canada. The agency was also found to be involved in the preparation of fake documents for students who want to study overseas.
Overseas Pakistanis sent home a record $4.612 billion in remittances during the current fiscal year, showing an increase of 10.35 percent from the previous year’s $4.168 billion. The highest inflow of remittances came from the USA at $1,242.49 million, followed by Saudi Arabia at $750.44 million, UAE at $716.3 million, and other GCC countries – Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman at $596.46 million. The highest amount of remittances was received in May this year in the amount of $506.57 million.
The Ministry of States and Frontier Regions Division has drawn up a strategy to repatriate almost all of the Afghan refugees in the country over the next three years in consultation withal relevant ministries and provincial governments. As part of this strategy, refugee camps would be completely closed down by 2009 and no camp resident would be given permission to move to urban areas in Pakistan. This would leave the remaining 2.6 million refugees no other option but to return home.
Some 32 Afghan nationals were deported on 26 July a few days after they were arrested for unauthorized stay in the town of Chaman, near the country’s border with Afghanistan. The deportees were handed over to Afghan officials at the Bab-e-Dosti or Friendship Gate. A week earlier the police arrested 215 other Afghan irregular immigrants in Quetta and on 23 July about 58 of them were deported to Afghanistan. It is up to the Afghan authorities to investigate if any of the deportees are Taliban members before releasing them.
The government has received complaints that both Pakistani and Afghan border authorities at Torkham allow commuter vehicles to cross the border without checking the legal documents of passengers. Sources said that about 12 to 15 coaches are plying the route from Peshawar to Kabul and Jalalabad daily. However, communications ministry officials claimed that the government had issued the United Bus Company route permits to operate a service only between Peshawar and Jalalabad. Meanwhile, the NWFP Regional Transport Authority has been ordered to submit a report regarding the unauthorized operation of commuter vehicles at Torkham.
Sources: Zulfiqar Ali, “Illegal traveling across Afghan border continues," Dawn, 16 July 2006; APP, “Pakistan gets $4.612bn remittances," Dawn, 16 July 2006; “Record $506,57m workers’ remittance in May," Daily Times, 17 July 2006; “78 deportees arrive from Spain," Dawn, 17 July 2006; “Ways to streamline labour export discussed," Dawn, 18 July 2006; “Remittances from Pakistanis increase," Arab News, 19 July 2006; AFP, “11 Bangladeshi migrants held in Ukraine," The Daily Star, 19 July 2006; “Deported youth remanded in FIA custody," Dawn, 20 July 2006; Wajahat Ijaz, “FIA ‘identifies’ seven human traffickers," Dawn, 24 July 2006; Amjad Mahmood, “Plan devised to repatriate Afghans," Dawn, 27 July 2006; Syed Irfan Raza, “New travel advisory for pilgrims," Dawn, 27 July 2006; AP, “32 Afghans deported for staying illegally near border," Gulf News, 27 July 2006; Reuters, “Islamabad deports 58 illegal Afghan immigrants," Gulf News, 27 July 2006; Shafiq Ahmad, “Peshawar: One arrested on human trafficking charge," Dawn, 30 July 2006; AP, “Ministry to screen religious pilgrims to Iran," Gulf News, 31 July 2006