September 27, 2006	Wednesday	Ramazan 3, 1427

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ATTOCK, Sept 26: Following the directives of Overseas Pakistanis Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan, an investigation has been launched into a Peshawar airport incident in which a British Pakistani girl was offloaded form a UK-bound flight after her genuine passport was dubbed fake by an immigration official, it has been learnt.

A joint director of Overseas Pakistanis Foundation complaint cell, Mohammad Nazeer Khan, in a letter, has asked the Immigration and Passports director-general to probe a self- explanatory complaint of Uzair Khan, an overseas Pakistani in UK and father of the girl offloaded, and take appropriate action.

He further asked that the investigation report might be sent conveyed to his office for onward submission to the federal minister for labour, manpower & overseas Pakistanis.

According to a source, the DG Immigration and Passports has sought a detailed report form the deputy director immigration, Peshawar Airport.

Meanwhile, it has been learnt that some high-ups of the immigration department have started making contacts with the complainant unofficially to settle the matter in a bid to save their ‘blue-eyed’ subordinates from any action. But the complainant had refused to comply with their requests, the sources said.

Earlier, the complainant, Uzair Khan, a resident of Ghourghusti village in Attock district, had forwarded a complaint to federal ministers for overseas Pakistanis, and interior, Federal Investigation Agency director-general and the British High Commission.

Narrating his ordeal, the dual nationality holder stated that he had come to Pakistan with his wife and daughter, Haleema Saadia, to inquire the health of his ailing father. However, on their way back to the UK, his daughter was offloaded from their flight after an immigration official, Mr Hussain, declared her travel documents fake despite the fact that the exit stamp had already been endorsed on their passports.

Later, he said, the British High Commission verified that the passport was genuine, he said, adding that the incident caused great embarrassment, mental trauma and financial loss to them as they could not travel.