Pakistan officials released this photograph on Thursday showing the chartered plane carrying the group of migrants.
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A Greek police official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said “action will be taken” when the migrants were returned to Greece, but he did not elaborate, noting that the flight had been organized by Frontex, the EU’s border-monitoring agency.
On the orders of Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, the FIA had stopped the “unverified deportees” from disembarking from the plane after it landed at Islamabad’s Benazir Bhutto International airport earlier today. They urged immigration authorities to take the remaining men into custody, but in vain.
The interior ministry said in a statement that Greek authorities had not provided proper documentation of the passengers on board the charter flight being Pakistani citizens and it would not allow them to enter the country if their citizenship could not be confirmed.
Greek Migration Minister Yannis Mouzalas told reporters the European Union must do more to persuade Pakistan to accept returnees.
However, it seems that the deal has yet to be salvaged.
The two sides are committed to working, at technical level, to find best solutions to differences between the European Union and Pakistan regarding the interpretation of certain clauses of the agreement and to some practical problems with its implementation. He had also said that Pakistan would not allow any country to label its innocent citizens as terrorists.
A few weeks ago, Interior Minister Ch Nisar while suspending the re-admission treaty had said Pakistan will not accept any deportee without verification of its Pakistani citizenship.
The EU office in Pakistan said those on board the aircraft were given documents by Pakistani embassies, but some appeared to have been refused entry for they lacked an interior ministry-issued ID card. But in Rawalpindi, the FIA said they had advance notification of 38 deportees, and of those on the plane only 19 were verified. “Obviously EU member states do not have access to this internal information – only Pakistan has”, a statement said.
Deportees were sent to Pakistan illegally, says interior ministry’s statement.
Last year, around 21,000 Pakistanis who were in Europe sans permission were ordered to return home.
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Meanwhile, in the light of the European statistical institute Eurostat figures, Pakistan is the sixth populous country in the world for illegal migration to Europe. The ministry made it clear that the government would not allow any undocumented person to enter the country.
