Around 106 Pakistanis deported from European countries arrived in Islamabad on Wednesday morning, according to interior ministry documents seen by Dawn.com.

According to the documents dated February 13, Pakistanis deported from Germany, Cyprus, Malta and Austria were due to arrive in Islamabad on February 26 along with medical staff after departing from Larnaca International Airport in Cyprus.

“The Frontex flight conducted with a chartered aircraft coming from Frankfurt via Larnaca will be arriving on 26 February 2025 at 08:20 hours (local time) at Islamabad International Airport,” the document read.

Frontex is the European border and coast guard agency.

Flight tracking website FlightRadar24 shows that Iberojet flight E9735 landed in Islamabad at 7:30am, before flying on to Tbilisi in Georgia.

“The Government of Pakistan has been pleased to allow a Chartered Flight carrying 100 Pakistani deportees (approximately) from Germany, Cyprus, Malta, and Austria scheduled on 20-02-2025, to land at New Islamabad International Airport … subject to allowing on board (by EU Authorities) only those returnees on the flight who are already in possession of valid ETDs (Emergency Travel Documents) issued by respective Pakistani Diplomatic Missions/Embassies,” another document dated February 13 read.

“The returnees will be escorted by the concerned EU member state’s Police Escorting Officers with no arms and ammunition, who will remain on board at the airport,” the document continued. “FIA and other Pakistani Airport authorities must only accept deportees who are in possession of valid ETDs and return unverified individuals to Germany on the same flight.”

ETDs are issued by the interior ministry to Pakistanis without valid passports.

A 2023 study by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the EU found that 24,000 Pakistanis entered EU countries illegally over the past three years. Pakistan now ranks fifth among countries sending migrants to Europe, with a particularly alarming 280 per cent surge in 2022 alone.

The same UNODC-EU study found that nearly half of all migrants were smuggled via the eastern and central Mediterranean sea routes.

On February 10, the Foreign Office (FO) said Pakistan’s embassy in Libya was seeking details of “Pakistani affectees” as a vessel carrying around 65 passengers capsized near the Marsa Dela port.

In a statement, the FO said: “Our Embassy in Tripoli has informed that a vessel carrying approximately 65 passengers capsized near the port of Marsa Dela, northwest of Zawiya city, Libya.”

It added that the Pakistan Embassy in Tripoli had immediately dispatched a team to “Zawiya hospital to assist the local authorities in [the] identification of the deceased”.