MINISTER for Interior Syed Mohsin Naqvi deserves credit for initiating a concrete move to mitigate sufferings of those planning to visit abroad, especially for employment purposes. Realizing the negative impact of recent reports about offloading of passengers at airports, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), under his instructions, has set up pre-departure facilitation desks at all zonal offices nationwide to assist international travelers. Their objective is to provide guidance and assistance to travelers on immigration procedures and clearances, ensuring a smoother and more hassle-free travel experience.
Greater vigilance and scrutiny by the immigration staff was necessitated by serious incidents like the boat tragedy in Greece, which highlighted the issue of human smuggling. No doubt, the crackdown was aimed at preventing illegal travel abroad to protect lives and rights of innocent people and ensure that the unscrupulous elements are now allowed to tarnish the image of the country. However, the crackdown also created difficulties for genuine travelers with valid documents and the issue required urgent attention as such offloading deprived many people of the employment opportunities abroad. Now experienced staff will be deputed at zonal offices of FIA to render advice and provide authentic information to intending travelers on different aspects of procedures and documents involved. Apart from information sharing, the staff deputed there should also carry out detailed scrutiny of the documents to ensure there is no hiccup at the time of actual departure. (ends)
