Over 40,000 foreigners deported since 2012

ISLAMABAD: Since 2012, law enforcement agencies in the country under Foreigners Act, 1946 arrested about 52,144 foreigners and about 40,149 others were deported.

In response to different questions in the Senate Question Hour, legislators were informed that as many as 61 Pakistanis were also extradited from three Gulf States.

To a question about number of illegal immigrants in the country since 2012, Minister of State for Interior and Narcotics Control Balighur Rehman stated that there was no record or data available for illegal immigrants but shared figures about such persons arrested in provinces and the capital.

In total about 52,144 such illegal immigrants were arrested of which the highest number was from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP)—37,386 and same was the figure from the province for number of foreigners deported during this time—29,745.

Including the deportees from K-P, the minister put the total of deported foreigners to 40,149— FIA returned about 4,614 while 3,168 were sent back from Sindh and 1,777 from Punjab. Similarly, 765 such immigrants were from Azad Jammu Kashmir and from Gilgit-Baltistan.

Furthermore, number of illegal immigrants arrested from Punjab, Balochistan was 4,221 and 4,131, respectively. About 4,707 persons were arrested by Federal Investigation Agency as well.

Rehman said federal cabinet recently approved the registration of illegal Afghan immigrants and a Memorandum of Understanding between NADRA and Ministry of Safron would be signed for such immigrants soon.

“Tight control, particularly along the Pak-Afghan border has been ensured by Frontier Corps in K-P and Balochistan,” he said adding that the prime minister had also approved Rs29 billion for raising wings of Civil Armed Forces for effective management of western border to stop infiltration of illegal immigrants.

The minister also said that 61 Pakistanis had been extradited from 33 countries and between 2014 and 2016 – 36 from United Arab Emirates, 24 from Saudi Arabia and one from Abu Dhabi.

Separately, Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique submitted before the upper house that there were a total of 3,389 level crossings over Pakistan Railways out of which 1,514 were manned while 1,875 were unmanned.

The minister informed the Senate that during the past three years about 184 accidents have occurred on these crossings out of which 140 were at unmanned ones. Similarly, he said 71 people were killed at unmanned crossings and 27 at manned crossings.

Saad said the highest number of unmanned crossings were in Punjab (1,079), 620 in Sindh, 105 in Balochistan and 71 in K-P. While Punjab also leads with the highest number of 361 vulnerable crossings.

He also stated that during the last three years Pakistan Railways had leased out 6,496 acres of its land for various purposes including premium shops, stacking, and agriculture and parking stands. “And by doing so during the current regime, railways earned Rs4,653 million,” he maintained.
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Source: The Express Tribune