The federal government has begun the process of cancelling passports of more than 7,800 Pakistani citizens who were deported from various countries between 2019 and 2025 due to involvement in beggary and other unlawful activities abroad.
Officials from the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis informed the Senate Standing Committee on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development that 7,873 individuals had been deported during this period.
Among them, approximately 5,600 were sent back specifically for begging in Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Qatar.
To discourage such activities, the Interior Ministry has placed the names of these deportees on the Passport Control List (PCL), initiating the cancellation of their travel documents.
The meeting, held at the Parliament House and chaired by Senator Zeeshan Khanzada, focused on the rising number of deportations and the actions being taken in response.
Mustafa Jamal Kazi, Director General of Passport and Immigration, raised concerns over the increasing number of Pakistani pilgrims overstaying their visas in countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Iraq. He revealed that last year alone, around 34,000 Pakistanis were deported from Iran, while 50,000 were expelled from Iraq.
Kazi also highlighted another alarming trend: a growing number of Pakistani nationals are applying for asylum in Europe. He stated that around 125,000 Pakistanis had sought asylum in various European countries over the past year.
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instead of solving deep rooted problems government plans to brush them under the carpet and tag it as all is well.
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