PESHAWAR, May 6: Federal Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao has said that the United States has removed Pakistan from the human trafficking watch list as the FIA immigration has managed to curb the menace during the last one and half year.

The US government had removed Pakistan from the K-2 list related to human trafficking owing to the good performance of the immigration staff of the Federal Investigation Agency posted at all the international airports in the country, the minister told reporters at the Peshawar airport on Saturday.

Mr Sherpao, Federal Interior Secretary Sayed Kamal Shah and FIA Director-General Tariq Pervez held a meeting with FIA Regional Director Malik Naveed and other senior officials at the conference hall of Peshawar airport and discussed human trafficking and other important issues.

The UK government had also rated Pakistan as a low-risk human trafficking country, Mr Sherpao said.

During the last one and half years, the immigration staff posted at airports had managed to reduce human trafficking, he told reporters after the meeting.

The minister also appreciated the Peshawar immigration staff for its efficiency during the visit of international departure and arrival lounges.

Mr Sherpao said that during his meeting with the FIA top brass it was decided to set up two new counters for immigration checking at the arrival and two at the departure lounges to facilitate passengers.

The interior ministry would also take up the issue of international flights’ timings with the Civil Aviation Authorities as sometimes two or three flights arrived at the Peshawar airport or take off at the same time, thus creating problems for the passengers.

The overlapping also increased the burden on the immigration staff, he said and added: “We will also increase staff at the Peshawar airport to further improve the performance of the FIA,” he added.

“We also discussed increase in the salaries of the immigration staff here,” he said.

Te minister announced Rs50,000 bonus for the immigration staff posted at Peshawar airport, which he termed a token money to appreciate their service in curbing human trafficking.

Replying to a query, Mr Sherpao said that they had also decided to expand the Peshawar airport and for this purpose PC-1 of the project had already been prepared and work would begin shortly.

About the Personal Identification and Compressed Evaluation System (PICES), he said that they had improved the system from collecting data of 70 per cent passengers to 92 per cent. In the coming months, the system would be able to register data of all passengers, he added.

Earlier, Malik Naveed informed the minister about the agency’s strength in the province and demanded for its increase. He also demanded vehicles for official work as currently the FIA used private vehicles for raids and even transporting under-trial prisoners from one place to another one.