ISLAMABAD: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is not issuing visas to Pakistanis, interior ministry officials told a Senate committee on Thursday, revealing that Pakistan had narrowly escaped a passport ban from the Gulf nation.
Additional Interior Secretary Salman Chaudhry, while briefing the Senate Functional Committee on Human Rights, said: “The Pakistani passport narrowly escaped a ban from the UAE and Saudi Arabia.”
He maintained that if a ban is imposed, it would be difficult to have it lifted. The official said that the UAE is currently issuing visas only to blue passport and diplomatic passport holders.
A few months ago, a large number of Pakistanis were deported from Saudi Arabia over various legal and immigration violations, he added.
The official said that many Afghan citizens were also residing there as Pakistanis, said the additional interior secretary. He said that the neighboring country interfered in “our system and managed to get passports issued.
“We also hold responsibility in this,” he admitted, and said that there must have been corruption involved.
The Senate body was told that the interior ministry had digitally obtained the data of 180 million to 200 million Pakistanis to prevent any misuse or irregularities in passport issuance. “Records of all citizens are available, and verification is done immediately,” he added.
Responding to a question about legal aid to Pakistanis jailed abroad, the official said that different countries have their own laws, adding that it was not possible to have a lawyer everywhere.
“Most of the Pakistanis arrested abroad are involved in minor crimes,” he told the Senate panel.
To another query about human smuggling, the official said that he, on the instructions of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, visited several countries to address the issue.
It is pertinent to mention here that hundreds of Pakistanis leave the country through illegal routes in search of a better future every year, with some losing their lives in accidents along the way.
The official revealed that organised human trafficking networks were operating from Gujarat, Wazirabad, Sheikhupura, and Lahore.
“Human traffickers are active in Dubai and various places in the Middle East,” he said, adding that up to Rs5 million is received by luring each innocent youth.
Human smugglers push youth to illegal routes on the pretext of taking them to Europe, the official added. –Agencies
