30 Pakistani deportees sent back to Greece over identification issue
Coast Guards had rescued 22 abducted persons earlier who were on way to European countries
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News/Reuters) – Thirty out of 49 Pakistan nationals who were deported by Greece on Thursday have been sent back for identification.
A chartered flight carrying Pakistani deportees from Greece landed in the federal capital earlier today.
The federal minister ordered the authorities to confirm identities of the passengers from Greek department concerned. Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) was also ordered to not allow the deported persons and the plane from leaving the airport until instructed otherwise.
Identities of 19 persons were verified while 30 were sent back to Greece for identification. Interior Ministry said the 30 were "unverified deportees" who had arrived.
"Despite having settled all issues with the European Commissioner, Pakistani laws have been violated, which absolutely cannot be allowed," Nisar said.
He did not specify the reasons for not accepting the 30. The EU mission in Pakistan had no immediate comment.
Clashes erupted on the Greek-Macedonian border on Tuesday when Macedonian riot police fired tear gas to repel up to 1,000 mostly Pakistani migrants trying to force their way across a newly erected border fence, a Reuters witness said.
Migrants later blocked the crossing for Syrians and others who would be let in as refugees. "If we don t cross, no one does!" they chanted. Police stood guard. Buses full of people who have landed elsewhere in Greece kept arriving.
So far, 886,662 people seeking safety have reached European shores this year, about four times the total in 2014, William Spindler, of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, said in Geneva this week.
