PRIME Minister Shehbaz Sharif has taken notice of reports surfacing of passengers travelling abroad being offloaded and a committee has been formed to investigate the matter. The committee is led by Federal Minister for Overseas Pakistanis Chaudhry Salik and includes Federal Minister for Information Technology Shaza Fatima Khawaja and the Minister of State for Overseas Pakistanis Muhammad Awn Chaudhry. It will propose a new mechanism regarding individuals travelling abroad and recommend harmonizing the system related to protector stamps at the international level.
Overseas Pakistanis have become a major source of support for the national economy as they remitted over $38 billion back home last year and the amount is expected to increase continuously as the number of those going abroad for employment is also surging. There is, therefore, a need to streamline the procedure for travel abroad to facilitate genuine passengers with valid documents. No doubt, over the past few months, multiple reports have surfaced accusing the FIA of offloading passengers at various airports across the country besides alleged deliberate roadblocks created by the Protector of Emigrants’ offices. However, there are reasons to believe that the reports about offloading are mostly misleading and exaggerated by the vested interests. It will be wrong to blame FIA and other relevant offices as it is their job and responsibility to ensure that only those having valid and genuine documents are allowed to proceed abroad. The vigilance is necessitated by frequent incidents of human smuggling in the garb of employment opportunities abroad and there have also been reports of gangs of beggars travelling abroad prompting visa restrictions by countries like the UAE. The Committee should, therefore, go deep into the issue and come out with a satisfactory solution.
