ISLAMABAD, Aug 4: Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao on Thursday reiterated the government’s resolve to effectively fight human trafficking. Talking to a delegation of the International Organization on Migration (IOM), which presented its annual report to him, the minister said human trafficking was a big cause of concern but Pakistan had done a lot to curb it.

He said that in recognition of the measures adopted by Pakistan, the country had been removed from the tier 2 watch list on human smuggling by the United States.

The minister told the delegation about preparation of an action plan to curb trafficking and highlighted the effectiveness of border security systems like the Personal Identification, Secure Comparison and Evaluation System, the AFIS and Machine-Readable Passports recently introduced in the country.

Mr Sherpao said Machine-Readable Passports with identity cards issued by the National Database and Registration Authority had become very effective and credible documents and almost all the states had recognized their importance.

He apprised the delegation on the ongoing talks with Iran, Greece and Afghanistan to form an alliance against human trafficking.

The minister expressed the hope that in collaboration and with technical assistance of the IOM, human trafficking could be stopped.

He said bottlenecks would be removed and a foolproof system put in place to monitor all exit and entry points of the country.

The discussed issues related to migration with the minister and appreciated the measures taken by the government, like creation of the anti-trafficking unit in the Federal Investigation Agency, model shelter houses for camel jockeys and amendments to immigration laws.