The countdown has begun to tighten the noose around fake immigration consultants and manpower agents, responsible for swindling millions of rupees out of – and even in some cases the death of – illegal immigrants, as lawyers are set to unleash a legal war against them.
The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBC)’s Human Rights Committee is planning to meet on August 25 or August 29 in Islamabad to work out a line of action to take firm action against fake consultants involved in illegal immigration.
SCBA Secretary General and Human Rights Committee head Qamarul Zaman Qureshi told Pakistan Today that the business of illegal immigration was rampant in the absence of specific laws for its regulation. “SCBA Human Rights wing has always shown great concern on the issue and now it has taken on the onus of initiating a legal war against impostors involved in human trafficking,” he said.
Qureshi said the committee would take stock of the issue and was likely to submit a case in the Supreme Court soon to make it necessary for all agents to get registered as immigration consultants. The petition would also feature the formation of specific legislation to let only qualified people run immigration businesses, he said.
With the enactment of law, the illegal immigration mafia would have no room to operate and would be replaced by genuine immigration consultants, he added.
Sources in the Interior Ministry revealed that Canadian Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney had announced that Canada would work with Pakistan to combat illegal immigration. Sources said that during the last three years alone, hundreds of illegal immigrants had entered the US, who were caught and deported to Pakistan.
Sources said that as many as 45 percent of the supposed immigration agents who promoted their Canadian immigration services in Pakistan were involved in dubious activities, which ultimately resulted in the loss of clients’ money and time and left them without authorised Canadian immigration visas.
A Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) official said that a large number of immigration consultants were under FIA scrutiny over reports of human trafficking and transfer of capital under the guise of higher education abroad. He said that if found guilty, all of them could be booked under Section 17/22 of the Immigration Act and for illegal transfer of currency.
Human rights activist Rana Jamshaid said the people of the South Asian region –especially Pakistanis – dreamed of being rich and settling down in a developed country. “The only difference is that the situation becomes worse when most people from this part of the world do not really care whether immigration is legal or illegal,” he added. Illegal manpower consultants and immigration agents had networks in rural areas where they trapped people by spinning dreams of better living standards, taking all their life savings, he said.
Immigration consultant Muhammad Asim Jamil said genuine consultants gave applicants a strength profile and any areas of concern under the skilled visa category, and, if applicable, an alternative visa category to apply for.
“They also extend their services for a detailed breakdown of application costs, including skill assessment fees, demonstrating whether you satisfy the requirements for a skilled visa, completing the health and character assessments, taking the steps involved in preparing your documentation, presenting the application in the format preferred, applying for the visa and the costs involved, informing when a decision to grant your visa has been made regarding entitlements as a permanent resident applying for citizenship in the future,” he added.
Specialists in immigration law, he said, offered expert immigration advice on visa requirements, work permits, immigration rules, businesses and skilled migration.
According to the FIA official, a first information report (FIR) (No 118/11) had been registered against one Muhammad Irfan on the complaint of the British High Commission in Islamabad. The accused had submitted a visa application to the commission on October 15, 2009. During processing, the commission found that the income tax certificate was fake. The FIA arrested Irfan on May 27, 2011 and found that the particular certificate submitted along with the visa application was indeed a fake, he said.
Another FIR (No 01/11) was registered against Muhammad Ali on the complaint of the Italian embassy. Muhammad Ali had submitted an application for visa with a work permit to the embassy in 2010. During the visa process, it was found that the work permit was a fake, thus the embassy officials referred his documents to the FIA for further investigation. The work permit was also found to be fake, along with other documents. The FIA arrested the accused on April 8, 2011.
Not only men but women have also submitted fake documents in visa applications. A woman named Ayesha Rafiq had submitted a fake MBA degree issued by a local university to the UAE embassy. An FIR was registered against her on suspicion of fake documents. Three other women namely Hajira Ahmed (FIR No 06/07), Aiman Manzoor (FIR No 27/05) and Mahira Batool (FIR No 18/04) had also submitted fake documents for visa.
According to sources, the FIA arrests and interrogates the fake visa applicants but the fake visa consultants/agents remain free to fool innocent people. It was also disclosed that many fake agents have links to influential people. In many cases, it was found that the visa applicants did not prepare or submit fake documents, the agents did.
