GUJRAT: The Federal Ministry of Interior has approved the establishment of two more Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) circles in the Gujranwala region for effective policing against human trafficking.As per a notification issued by the ministry, a new FIA circle would be established in Sialkot as well as a sub-circle in the Mandi Bahauddin district with the immediate effect.

Gujranwala FIA Director Muhammad Bin Ashraf told Dawn that the Sialkot circle would deal with the cases pertaining to Sialkot and Narowal districts, whereas the Mandi Bahauddin sub-circle was meant for the same district which had become a hub of human trafficking networks in the region.

Earlier, he said, the Sialkot and Narowal districts were being handled from the Gujranwala FIA circle and Mandi Bahauddin district was being handled by the Gujrat FIA circle. With the establishment of two more FIA circles, the Gujranwala region would now consist of three full circle and a sub-circle offices, he added.

He said the region was known for having a trend of settling in European countries through illegal means and this tarnished the country’s image. Moreover, he said that the passengers who attempted to travel abroad through illegal means from the Sialkot airport, would now be handed over to the Sialkot FIA circle instead of being shifted to the Gujranwala anti-human trafficking cell.

The move aims to tackle increasing human-trafficking incidents in the region

Official sources said that an officer of the deputy director rank would head the Sialkot circle, whereas an assistant director was likely to head the Mandi Bahauddin sub-circle.

It is learnt that the Sialkot circle was being set up after it emerged that major human trafficking networks in the Sambrial and Pasrur tehsils of the district were involved in the boat capsize tragedies of December 2024 and January 2025.

Similarly, Mandi Bahauddin too had a high number of victims in the boat tragedies in recent years.

Officials said the trend to illegally migrate to Italy, Spain and other countries had also gained prominence in rural areas of the Sialkot district from the neighbouring Gujrat and Wazirabad districts.

Until 2008, there was only one FIA circle office working in Gujranwala for the whole region, however, an FIA police station was established in Gujrat around 17 years ago which was upgraded to a circle office in 2018 and Gujrat, Mandi Bahauddin and Hafizabad districts were attached to the Gujrat circle.

The FIA Gujranwala zone director said that the staff in the newly-approved circle and sub-circle might be posted within a week or so as search for rented buildings to set up the offices in Sialkot and Mandi Bahauddin would be launched from tomorrow (Monday). Efforts would be made to make the new circles functional as soon as possible, he added.

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2025