ISLAMABAD, Oct 19: A special plane brought 42 illegal immigrants deported by the Spanish government to Pakistan to the Islamabad airport on Thursday.

Initially a sort of diplomatic crisis erupted when some of the illegal immigrants claimed that they were not Pakistanis and belonged to Indian-held Kashmir. Accordingly, the immigration authorities insisted that the special plane take them back.

The situation put the Spanish embassy’s Second Secretary Amaya Ruth Fuemter Milani in a fix who was there at the airport to oversee the handing over of the illegal immigrants.

But she would not say as much in writing, as demanded by the FIA staff at the airport, arguing that she could cooperate with the Pakistani authorities only “in line with my ambassador’s instructions”.

After hours of talks with the Spanish diplomat, Assistant Deputy Director FIA (Immigration) Malik Omar Hayat and Assistant Director FIA (Passport Cell) sent the 42 deportees to the passport cell and the special plane was allowed to leave.

During investigation, eight of the deportees revealed that they belonged to Gujrat, sources told Dawn.

They said they had gone to Spain through Balochistan via Iran and Turkey.

Investigation is going on to ascertain the identity of the remaining deportees, the sources added.

Airport staff said 62 security guards and three doctors “looked after” the 42 deportees during their special flight from Madrid to Islamabad.

When asked for comment, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasneem Aslam told Dawn that some 200 illegal immigrants were caught in Spain recently, of whom 42 had been suspected to be Pakistanis. Their particulars were communicated by the Pakistani mission in Spain to authorities in Islamabad for verification.

With no answer coming from Islamabad and the Spanish authorities breathing heavily on its neck, the mission issued travel documents to the suspected illegal ‘Pakistanis’.

One deportee, identifying himself as Farrukh Javed, told Dawn that he was from Srinagar and had never told his Spanish captors that he was a Pakistani.