KARACHI (Dunya News) — The Director-General of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) told the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Rights that the Pakistani passport has improved in global ranking, moving from 118th to 92nd this year.
The FIA chief attributed the improvement to the offloading of 51,000 passengers from flights for various irregularities. He said that around 24,000 Pakistanis were deported from Saudi Arabia for begging or attempting to travel to Europe under the pretext of performing Umrah.
In addition, 6,000 Pakistanis were deported from Dubai, and 2,500 from Azerbaijan, primarily for begging. According to the FIA, 24,000 Pakistanis traveled to Cambodia this year, with 12,000 still unaccounted for, while 4,000 went to Myanmar on tourist visas, of which 2,500 have not returned.
The FIA DG also highlighted a case involving a fake football club that sent a team to Japan, which included a physically disabled individual who was not a footballer. Furthermore, Pakistani authorities uncovered cases of Bangladeshi nationals using Pakistan as a transit to illegally reach Europe on tourist visas.
The FIA chief emphasized that these measures are aimed at curbing illegal travel and human trafficking, which also contributed to the reported rise in the passport’s international ranking. Azerbaijan, and tracking of unreturned travelers from Cambodia and Myanmar, along with human trafficking crackdowns, contributed to the reported improvement.