Turkey deports four Pakistani illegal immigrants
The deportees were handed over to anti-human trafficking cell in Islamabad.
ISLAMABAD (Web Desk / Reuters) – Four Pakistani illegal immigrants deported by Turkish authorities have arrived at Benazir Bhutto International Airport in Islamabad today (Thursday), Dunya News reported.
According to airport sources, the deportees were handed over to anti-human trafficking cell after verification of their documents by the immigration authorities.
Earlier on December 3, Pakistan refused to allow about 30 migrants deported from Greece to get off a plane at Islamabad, a week after talks with the European Union to settle a dispute over forced repatriations.
The charter plane later took off with the rejected returnees still aboard, after 19 others whom Pakistan deemed legitimate deportees were allowed to disembark, the Interior Ministry said.
A top EU official said last month that Pakistan would stick to an agreement to take back citizens deported from mainland Europe, days after Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan said Islamabad was suspending a repatriation deal.
Last year, about 21,000 Pakistanis who were in Europe without permission were ordered to return home. An estimated 50,000 Pakistanis travel legally to Europe for work each year.
But the Interior Ministry said 30 of those who arrived on December 3 were "unverified deportees".
This year, almost 900,000 people seeking asylum have reached European shores, about four times the total in 2014, the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said this week. Half of them were fleeing the fighting in Syria.
