‘Beggars’ heading to Gulf to face strict checks at airports – Pakistan

• FIA officials say scores of flights written off over suspicions
• Purge harms real travelers
• Authorities call on Middle Eastern countries to introduce stricter visa regimes

GUJRAT: Growing discontent in Middle Eastern countries over the rising number of Pakistanis begging has prompted authorities to take action. They have started stricter checks on passengers travelling to these destinations.

A senior official of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) said Dawn that immigration officers at airports have removed several passengers from flights in recent months to counter this trend.

They said potential beggars were dressing up as tourists to visit Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Iran, Oman and Turkey.

Pakistani officials have also expressed concern about the growing number of Pakistani beggars abroad. A senior official told the Senate Standing Committee on Overseas Pakistanis that 90 percent of beggars arrested abroad were of Pakistani origin.

At another meeting of the committee earlier this year, the Interior Ministry claimed it had disembarked 44,000 passengers over the past two and a half years on similar suspicions.

According to officials, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi has also recently focused heavily on tackling human traffickers and the beggar mafia.

FIA sources said “gangs” of would-be beggars operate mainly from the southern districts of Punjab and travel from Multan airport in disguise as religious tourists.

Genuine visitors ‘at a disadvantage’

FIA Gujranwala Region Director Qadir Qamar also said Dawn that airport staff would fob off passengers with false and suspicious travel documents.

According to travel agents, UAE authorities have also started actively denying visas to Pakistanis who did not have enough funds in their accounts to prove they were “genuine visitors”.

However, this action also has a downside.

Many foreign embassies, especially those of western and African countries, and their visa services for Pakistan operate from the UAE.

Travel agents fear that the stricter controls will affect passengers wishing to travel to these countries, as they will have to appear for a job interview in the UAE.

Stricter visa regulations

While authorities claim they have taken measures, they have also asked countries in the Middle East and Gulf states to tighten their visa rules.

A senior FIA official said these countries should also look at their visa processing system instead of just pressuring Pakistani authorities to stop potential beggars, criminals and illegal immigrants.

For example, the FIA ​​official said that most Western countries require bank statements, property and tax documents in addition to the visa application to ensure that the traveler can support himself during his stay.

He added that immigration staff at airports are now asking passengers – who regularly travel to and from the Middle East in short periods of time – for their occupation, company and bank account to assess the purpose of their trip.

If suspected, passengers will be removed from the plane, the officer said.

Repatriation of criminals

In addition to tackling beggar gangs, officials are also working with foreign countries, particularly countries in the Middle East, to bring back wanted criminals.

The Punjab Police have in recent years repatriated a number of criminals from Dubai, who were wanted for heinous crimes.

According to FIA sources, most of the criminals, who hail from central Punjab districts – Gujrat, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Mandi Bahauddin and Hafizabad, have been repatriated from Dubai through Interpol and handed over to the respective district police.

The agency also cracks down on traffickers concentrated in the regions of Gujranwala, Gujrat and Azad Jammu and Kashmir. The crackdown on traffickers was intensified last year after a boat carrying hundreds of Pakistanis sank near Greece.

Mr. Qamar, the Regional Director of FIA Gujranwala, said Dawn that the agency’s anti-trafficking cell has arrested about 200 suspected traffickers in the past two months, including those involved in the Greek boat tragedy.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has upgraded the FIA ​​office in Gujranwala to a regional directorate to effectively combat the practices of human traffickers and other criminals.

Published in Dawn, August 12, 2024