- FIA Lahore Zone director cites fake news of passengers’ offloading.
- Official says some passengers use women as shields to flee abroad.
- Those going abroad via illegal means being stopped, notes Ali Zia.
Amid prevailing rumours and speculations about alleged offloading of passengers, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has issued a clarification on the issue saying that no passengers were being offloaded from flights.
“No passenger is being offloaded at Lahore airport,” said FIA Lahore Zone Director Captain (retd) Ali Zia, adding that the authority facilitates those passengers whose documents are legal and complete.
“Even immigration authorities cannot stop you with legal documents,” he remarked. The official, however, noted that only those passengers with incomplete documents were being stopped.
Lamenting that fake news was being spread on social media regarding the offloading of passengers, the FIA director said, stressing that those going abroad via illegal means are stopped after due profiling.
“Some passengers use women as shields to flee abroad,” the official revealed, saying that some passengers also possess documents of fake companies abroad.
“The public is requested not to listen to [such] rumours [as] Unrest is being deliberately created on social media [on the matter],” the FIA director said.
The FIA’s clarification comes as the government has ordered strict measures to curb human smuggling and prevent people from illegally travelling abroad, which came after a number of Pakistanis were killed in boat capsizing incidents attempting to go abroad.
Apart from the government crackdown, Lahore’s Jamia Naeemia has also issued a religious edict against the use of illegal means to travel abroad from Pakistan.
The decree, issued by Dr Mufti Raghib Hussain Naeemi and Mufti Imran Hanfi, declares that using illegal means to go abroad not only unlawful but also in violation of Shariah.
It further stated that it is unlawful for any agent or middleman to take money for any such act of illegal foreign travel, and called upon the government to adopt a law to act against agents who endanger the innocent lives of the countrymen.
It is imperative to highlight that Pakistanis have emerged as the top nationality among asylum applicants in 2024-25 in the United Kingdom, accounting for 11,048 people or 10.1% of the total asylum applicants in the last year, as per the UK’s Home Office.
Previously in 2023-24, Pakistan was the third most common nationality (7.5% of the total) and in that year 7,003 applied for asylum.
