KARACHI, 6 December 2005 — Immigration from Pakistan and deportations of Pakistanis back to their home country has increased in recent years, according to government and UN figures.
The general flow of migrants from Pakistan is to developed countries, including the US, UK, Germany, Middle East and East Asia. According to a 2001 census, 321,000 people in Britain were Pakistan-born, up from 234,000 recorded in 1991.
Sources at the Pakistan Passport Office said that the number of passport applicants was consistently increasing at a faster rate than previous years, and the regional offices were issuing around 5,000 passports every day. “Regional offices issue an average of 650 passports per day,” an official said.
According to official sources and NGOs dealing with migration and human trafficking, Pakistanis are usually deported for loss or expiry of documents, rejection of asylum, possession of fake documents, being black-listed, commission of a criminal offense and illegal border crossing.
As many as 104,075 Pakistanis were deported in the last two years. This figure does not include offloading and repatriation of camel jockeys from the Middle East.
Sources said that while legal immigration is on the rise in Pakistan, illegal immigration is declining because of preventive measures taken by the government. State Minister for Interior Shahzad Waseem said that various measures had been taken to prevent illegal immigration from Pakistan, including machine-readable passports, electronic installations at entry and exit points, etc.
