GUJRAT: A high-level European Union delegation visited the Sialkot International Airport on Friday to monitor the immigration process and measures to prevent irregular migration, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) spokesman said in a statement.
The team included FRONTEX Liaison Officer to Pakistan, Representative from Embassy of Hungary along with the representative from ICMPD. It was given a comprehensive briefing on the working, performance and achievements of FIA Immigration, Sialkot airport, with particular emphasis on the progress made over the last five months.
According to Dawn.com, the move follows the off-loading of more than 66,000 passengers across Pakistan last year amid a post-2024 Greece boat tragedy crackdown on migrant smuggling.
According to the FIA spokesperson, the delegation was given a comprehensive briefing on the working, performance, and achievements of the FIA Immigration at the Sialkot airport, with particular emphasis on the progress made over the last five months.
Also pays a trip to FIA zonal office in Gujranwala
“The briefing focused on measures taken to prevent irregular migration, including the effective implementation of risk indicators, enhanced profiling mechanisms, and optimal utilisation of the Second Line Border Control Office,” the statement added.
The spokesperson stated that the EU delegation was further apprised of the pre-departure facilitation mechanisms established at both the zonal level and the airport, aimed at strengthening border management, improving operational efficiency, and creating a passenger-friendly environment.The immigration border management system (IBMS) data analysis of the July-December 2024 period revealed the trend of passengers travelling to at least 15 countries.
The data analysis showed that most of the passengers travelling to these transit destinations are mainly from nine districts of Punjab, including Sialkot.The delegation also visited the FIA zonal office in Gujranwala where a Risk Analysis Unit has been formed.Zonal Director Muhammad Bin Ashraf briefed the delegation on sustained and targeted efforts of Gujranwala zone to curb irregular migration.
The director said the zonal unit was a major milestone in strengthening data-driven risk profiling . Mr Ashraf also apprised the delegation of key institutional advancements currently underway within FIA, including the digitisation of the Case Management System.
Published in Dawn, January 17th, 2026
