Europe’s migration commissioner has said an agreement to deport undocumented migrants to Pakistan will be restored, after Islamabad announced it had suspended the deal because of its “blatant misuse”.
The 2010 agreement aimed to facilitate the return of Pakistani illegal immigrants and other nationals who had transited through Pakistan before arriving in the European Union.
Islamabad had recently suspended the agreement with EU countries except Britain, denouncing misuse including the lack of “proper verification of their nationality”.
“There were some technical issues that have been clarified, in order to move ahead with the implementation of the repatriation agreement,” Dimitris Avramopoulos told reporters in Islamabad on Monday after meeting with Pakistan’s interior and foreign affairs ministers.
His statement was confirmed by the interior ministry, which quoted the commissioner as saying that “deportees will be sent from Europe under a clear Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) after finding a solution to Pakistan’s reservations”.
European and Pakistani officials are meeting to discuss the details of the procedure, it said.
Avramopoulos said Pakistan and the European Union will strengthen cooperation against smuggling networks.
“It is the moment to fight smugglers. There are powerful networks that exploit those desperate people. We’re going to track down and eradicate these networks,” he said.
Stressing the distinction between economic migrants and refugees, he said victims of smugglers and those who try to migrate illegally “must know that they will not be given any permit” allowing them to stay.
Earlier in November, The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) launched a countrywide crackdown against human traffickers in a bid to control the flow of immigrants, especially to Europe.
Pakistan had also instructed its diplomatic missions in European capitals to demand evidence of a potential crime when host countries sought to deport illegal immigrants being held on terror charges to Pakistan.
The move comes after Islamabad said it had suspended its agreement on the readmission of illegal immigrants with European Union countries, except Britain, because of its “blatant misuse”.
Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had also warned that airlines who carried deportees back to Pakistan without the interior ministry’s permission or without travel documents would have to pay unspecified fines.
The 2010 agreement that Pakistan said it had suspended aimed to facilitate the return of Pakistani illegal immigrants and other nationals who had transited through Pakistan before arriving in the European Union (EU).
Earlier, Pakistan had expressed readiness to accept its citizens who illegally arrived in the EU.
