• Agency advises passengers to carry valid documents, avoid illegal agents
• Initiates action against social media accounts sharing ‘fake’ claims

RAWALPINDI: The Fed­­eral Investigation Age­ncy (FIA) on Wednesday refuted claims of arbitrary offloading of passengers travelling abroad, clarifying that individuals were only denied boarding or offloaded if they lacked valid documents or were suspected of assisting migrant smugglers.

The agency said that its immigration staff does not offload travellers at airports across the country if they possess complete documents and have a legitimate purpose for travel.

Officials stated that passengers are only denied boarding under specific circumstances, including having incomplete or fraudulent travel documents, providing suspicious or unclear information, or if they are suspected of being under the influence of human traffickers or illegal agents. They added that strict action has been taken against individuals with past records of illegal travel activities.

Legal action initiated

The agency also initiated legal action against social media accounts accused of spreading fabricated information that immigration officials were offloading passengers with valid work and visit visas.

The action, conducted through the National Cyber Crime Invest­iga­tion Agency, targets what officials described as a “systematic and baseless propaganda” campaign also intended to spread “provincial hatred”. The legal proceedings are being carried out under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca).

According to FIA officials, some elements were sharing “fake and misleading posts regarding the offloading of passengers, which are aimed at damaging the reputation of the institution and creating concern among the public”.

According to sources, initially more than 15 such social media acco­unts have been found involved in spreading baseless propaganda and spreading provincial hatred.

The FIA urged the public “not to be unduly concerned” and to avoid dealing with illegal agents. The agency stressed that travellers should always carry complete and verified documents.

For any complaints, travellers are advised to contact the Deputy Director of FIA Immigration or call the agency’s helpline at 1991.

In a video statement shared today, FIA Lahore Zone Director Captain (retired) Muhammad Ali Zia addressed the recent issue of “misleading AI-generated videos and false information circulating on social media regarding alleged offloading incidents at airports”.

“All these rumours have no connection with reality,” Zia said, referring to reports of people being offloaded “for no reason”. However, the FIA officer noted that a lot of people were those “who get deceived by various human smugglers in some way”.

“We have seen cases where people get deceived by these human smugglers and change their routes mid-transit, or take an accomplice with them in the form of their mother or sister, through which they can exit here with the [safeguard] of an Umrah [visa],” Zia said.

Published in Dawn, November 28th, 2025