The number of applications from Pakistan seeking refugee status in the UK has increased as compared to any other countries’ asylum seekers, a senior British official has said. UK Border Agency (UKBA) Chief Executive Rob Whiteman revealed this during an exclusive interview as he visited Pakistan last week on a two-day official trip. At the head of his delegation, Rob met and worked with his counterparts chiefly on irregular migration. “Main issue at the moment is that the number of people claiming asylum and refugee status under the international law from Pakistan is increasing alarmingly,” Whiteman said when asked about a typical problem from Pakistani visa applicants.
“When we look into the applications most of them were the people who were not eligible to seek asylum in UK,” he told Online. “It could be an agent’s idea or a trend amongst the scrupulous agents,” he added. “If someone is genuine asylum seeker the UK government would definitely look into one’s case sympathetically,” he maintained. According to him, his organisation valued the work that it carried out with agencies such as the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). “We have a shared agenda on dealing with the issues of irregular migration,” he added. He said that in the UK, “we see problems of irregular migration and we take action in relations to irregular employment, sham marriages, and bogus colleges. It is really worthwhile being here to deal with these issues”.
