ISLAMABAD: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has awarded punishments to more than 100 officials for collusion with human smugglers since the 2023 Greece boat tragedy, a parliamentary committee was informed on Tuesday.
Briefing the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Interior and Narcotics Control, FIA Director General Dr Usman Anwar said 132 enquiries were initiated, leading to 68 major and 36 minor penalties against officials who failed to follow the standard profiling mechanism and facilitated illegal migration.
He said 22,136 passengers were offloaded in 2026 after strict assessment based on risk profiles. Deportations have also declined, with cases involving fake or forged documents dropping from 281 in 2024 to 13 so far in 2026.
FIA chief tells lawmakers 22,136 travellers offloaded this year; 57,510 deportees on Passport Control List
“In 2024, total 35,459 passengers were offloaded whereas deportations touched 68,877. In 2025, 39,786 were offloaded and deportations fell to 57,560,” Dr Anwar said. “Due to strict profiling, deportation on fake documents has declined sharply.”
International concerns
The FIA chief cited multiple concerns raised by international partners, including boat tragedies in the Mediterranean during smuggling attempts, illegal border crossings into Europe, and abuse of study visas in the UK and Cyprus.
“Pakistan is the 3rd largest student-visa receiving country of the UK, but around 10,000 visas were misused through asylum claims,” he said. “Around 580 Pakistanis have not returned from Belarus.”
Other challenges included beggary in GCC countries and stranded Pakistanis in Cambodia. Similarly, 7,721 passengers did not return from Azerbaijan.
The FIA chief revealed that attempts were made to use fake blue passports to travel to a third country, mainly from Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Qatar.
Citing Frontex data, the FIA DG said illegal migration towards Europe declined by 26pc in 2025, with a 64pc drop recorded in Jan-Feb 2026 compared to the same period in 2025. Deportation due to organised beggary fell 75pc in 2025, while deportation on fake or forged papers dropped 31pc. Overall deportations were down 16pc in 2025.
He said the International Centre for Migration Policy Development, an EU-based organisation, acknowledged Pakistan’s efforts.
Passport Control List
An official of the Immigration and Passports department told the NA committee that 57,510 deportees are currently on the Passport Control List, commonly known as the black list.
Policy Director Shahid Riaz Gujjar said names are placed on the PCL under Rule 22 of Passport Rules, 2021, only on written recommendations from Pakistani missions abroad or agencies like Interpol, based on reports from host-country authorities.
Minister of State for Interior Tallal Chaudhry told the committee there was a restriction on issuance of a fresh travel document after the third or fourth lost passport.
Published in Dawn, June 10th, 2026