ISLAMABAD, Feb 7: Pakistan and the European Union (EU) will soon sign a ‘Re-admission Agreement’ to crack down on illegal immigrants living in Europe, sources told Dawn on Tuesday.
According to the Foreign Office spokesperson, Ms Tasneem Aslam, although both sides have agreed to the text of this document which is now ready for signing.
Under it, the EU can repatriate those immigrants who hold Pakistani passport or the nationality but are living illegally in Europe.
However, the EU has linked the signing of `Re-admission’ with the implementation of the Third Generation Agreement – a trade plus deal.
The Third Generation Agreement, according to a commerce ministry official, allows setting up a `joint commission’ to discuss increasing bilateral issues related to trade. The EU has not nominated its officials for the commission as the `re-admission agreement’ has not progressed, as yet. The controversial clauses of the treaty related to the acceptance of a third-country national has been sorted out, said the FO spokesperson.
Ms Aslam while brushing aside the concerns of deportations on large scale said the agreement will not have a retrospective affect
In reply to a question she said soon both sides will agree on the formalities for signing the agreement.
To another question she said the agreement would be signed at the ministerial level, most probably by the Pakistan’s interior minister and his EU counterpart.
According to commerce ministry official the pact will affect the current situation while those already living in Europe will not be influenced.
A source in the foreign office said that Pakistan was opposing the condition of third country national on the pretext that Islamabad was not responsible to accept those stateless people who did not have a valid Pakistani passport or were nationality holder and living illegally in Europe.
Pakistan will also not accept those people, particularly Afghan refuges, Bengalis and others living in Europe who got Pakistani passport for settling in any European country, the source added.
The move behind `re-admission agreement’ is to regulate the movements of Pakistanis in the EU countries as majority of the Europeans feel that foreigners take away the jobs due to their social system. This pact will also keep a tag on those moving through legal channels, said a diplomatic source.Another hurdle is human trafficking which the EU wants to bring to an end, immediately through this agreement.