EU may deny asylum to Pakistanis

Published October 20, 2003

PARIS, Oct 19: Pakistan is expected to be among the countries whose residents will no longer be authorized to file political asylum in all the EU countries.

Inaugurating the first day of the G5 anti-terrorism summit at the French resort city of La Baule, French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said that Paris was “taking very seriously” the threats issued on Arab satellite TV channel Al-Jazeera by Osama bin Laden.

The G5 summit has been convened to take a number of decisions with regard to the security future of the European Union, and will notably issue a list of the “sure countries” from which candidates for political asylum in the EU will now be refused authorization to reside in the present 15 European countries, and, as of next year, the 25 member EU states.

POPULATION FLOWS: An international colloquium just held in Paris on immigration and population flows has revealed that the European continent will see even more immigration in the coming years than it has in its recent history.

The colloquium also revealed that at the present moment, there are more than 40 million immigrants in mainland Europe alone, with 8 million in France, of which 5 million are Muslims.

Opinion

Editorial

Doctor attacked
09 Jun, 2026

Doctor attacked

AN act of reprehensible violence has shaken the medical community. On Saturday, an employee of the Provincial Civil...
AJK flare-up
Updated 09 Jun, 2026

AJK flare-up

The situation started deteriorating after a trader affiliated with the JAAC was reportedly shot in an altercation with law-enforcers.
Fault lines
09 Jun, 2026

Fault lines

THE April 8 ceasefire that halted hostilities between Israel and Iran has encountered its most serious test yet....
Soft on traders
08 Jun, 2026

Soft on traders

THE Fixed Tax Asaan Scheme for traders with an annual turnover of up to Rs200m has been designed as a ‘pragmatic...
Ceasefire in name
Updated 08 Jun, 2026

Ceasefire in name

Both sides accuse the other of violating the truce that was supposed to halt the conflict in April, yet neither appears willing to abandon negotiations altogether.
Damaged childhoods
08 Jun, 2026

Damaged childhoods

CHILD abuse is so prevalent that the UN ranked Pakistan as the least safe country for children. Even so, more than...