LAHORE: The number of Pakistani passengers from the United States has decreased since the travel ban imposed by the Trump administration on seven Muslim countries, according to the officials of Pakistan and foreign airlines.

“The number of Pakistani passengers from the US (to Pakistan) has decreased since Mr Trump imposed travel ban on seven Muslim countries and rigorous vetting of some other countries including Pakistan last month,” an official of the PIA told Dawn on Monday.

The PIA operates two weekly flights to and from the US (Karachi-Lahore-Manchester-New York and return).

“There has been a decrease in the number of Pakistani passengers returning to the country from New York in two PIA flights last week compared to the previous weeks,” he said, adding there had been a talk in the aviation circles that owing to the stringent measures for certain Muslim countries and uncertainty about Pakistan’s visa status Pakistanis residing legally (green card, visit, student visas etc.) have chosen to stay over there.

Pakistanis avoid travelling to homeland

“We will see how long this trend (booking of less number of Pakistani passengers from New York) continues. At the moment we have no plan to reduce the number of flights to and from the US,” the official said.

A foreign airline official told Dawn that Pakistani passengers (from the US) decreased but this can’t be ascertained numerically at this stage. “This trend has been witnessed since visa restrictions last month,” he added.

On the other hand, there seems to be a good news that not a single Pakistani has been deported from the US on legal documents. “There were rumours that some Pakistani might be deported (even having legal visa) on some other grounds. But this has not yet happened,” an official of interior ministry confirmed to Dawn.

“We are closely monitoring the situation in the US in this regard. It is unlikely that the US comes harsh on Pakistan and impose some kind of visa restriction. However, action against illegal immigrants is very much on the cards there,” he said.

A US judge this month has temporarily lifted ban on the citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

Agha Ali, a chartered accountant by profession, is living in Washington on a business visa for a year.

Talking to this reporter by phone Mr Ali said there had been a lot of uncertainty here. “I had to return home (Islamabad) to see my ailing father but he (father) asked me to stay over there as I might not be able to go back to the US to continue my consultancy business under current circumstances,” he said.

Amir Pasha, who works in the corporate sector, said he along with his father, wife and children had plans to go to Houston to attend the death anniversary of his mother in coming March.

“But seeing the situation, I didn’t apply for visa renewal for family members fearing the embassy may reject our application because of what we are hearing ‘rigorous vetting’ of Pakistani nationals’ documents. My father is a US green card holder but we cannot send him to Houston alone under these circumstances,” Mr Pasha said.

Published in Dawn February 7th, 2017