THE chaos at the country’s major airports seems to be subsiding, with some order gradually restored after the state’s ham-handed efforts to crack down on unlawful travel. The past few months had been a nightmare, with passengers travelling abroad from Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad routinely complaining of long queues, repeated questioning by security personnel, and extremely long waits for immigration clearance. It seems that some unscrupulous elements had also jumped at the opportunity to fleece time-stressed travellers by furtively offering ‘facilitation services’ in exchange for extortive ‘fees’. Some passengers had even complained on social media that the free-to-use luggage trolleys meant to facilitate travellers had ‘disappeared’ from their usual drop-off spots, and they were forced to pay to use one. Then there were the reports of passengers being denied boarding on flimsy pretexts, or for no reason at all. It seems that the growing discontent finally forced the authorities to restore some order.

While there is no question that Pakistan needs to crack down on human smuggling and prevent unscrupulous elements from travelling abroad for less-than-legitimate reasons, the way the authorities went about it has left a bad taste. There was never any good reason to subject all foreign travellers to dehumanising and distressing checks and interrogation at the final stage of departure. If the authorities were serious, they would have launched a comprehensive drive against criminals running human smuggling networks, as well as the shysters and ‘immigration advisers’ who sell promises of employment abroad in return for exorbitant fees. That they chose to inconvenience countless travellers — including the old, the sick and those travelling with little children — just so that they could ‘look good’ in the eyes of those passing the orders goes to show what little consideration is accorded to ordinary citizens. One can only be grateful that sense seems to be prevailing at last. Otherwise, this could just as easily have become standard operating procedure.

Published in Dawn, February 26th, 2026