Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has decided to take action against the practice of unnecessarily offloading passengers at airports, particularly those travelers who possess valid visas and travel documents and are mostly traveling abroad for employment purposes.
According to sources, this decision comes in response to the frequently unprofessional conduct of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), which has raised serious questions about the transparency of the country’s immigration system. Sources say the Prime Minister has announced the formation of a 14-member committee tasked with reviewing and rectifying the existing ambiguous immigration procedures so that Pakistani passengers do not face unnecessary difficulties.
Sources in the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis stated that the Prime Minister intervened after reports emerged that many passengers with valid visas were being offloaded for minor reasons such as “technical glitches” or “slight discrepancies in documents.” These incidents sparked widespread anger on social media, with citizens demanding accountability from FIA leadership.
The Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis has officially announced the establishment of the 14-member committee. The committee will include the Federal Minister for Information Technology, the Minister of State for Overseas Pakistanis, and secretaries from relevant ministries, and will be headed by Chaudhry Salik Hussain.
According to sources, the committee has been tasked with proposing measures to reduce human intervention in the issuance and renewal process of the Protectorate of Emigrants (POE) stamp on the passports of Pakistanis traveling abroad for employment. The committee has also been assigned the responsibility of presenting recommendations for the implementation of a fully digital and online system, which will also oversee workers’ immigration processes.
In addition, the committee will consider ways to align Pakistan’s immigration procedures with international best practices and will propose measures to make the POE system more effective.
Sources further stated that the committee has been given three weeks to submit its recommendations to the Prime Minister.
