Nisar welcomes EU’s understanding of Pak concerns

ISLAMABAD: Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has welcomed and appreciated European Union’s understanding of Pakistan’s concerns in the implementation of the Eura agreement. He was reacting to the news that a broad-based understanding has been reached in the Joint Readmission Committee (JRC)’s meeting held in Brussels.

Nisar said that illegal immigration is posing problems not only for the EU countries but is also a source of embarrassment and concern for Pakistan. Appreciating EU’s understanding of Pak concerns, he said that this will provide a very good platform for Pakistan and the Union to work together with greater coordination in this area.

The meeting of the JRC held in Brussels last week arrived at an agreement between the two sides on the areas of differences. This meeting took place following the decision taken for the same in the meeting between Ch Nisar and EU Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos in November, 2015 where the interior minister shared Pakistan’s serious concerns over the loopholes in the implementation of Eura, which seriously affected the fundamental rights and in some cases the dignity of Pakistani immigrants/ refugees, and stressed the need to immediately resolve the issues in the interest of both Pakistan and the EU.

On Pakistan’s concern over the deportees being sent without due verification, the EU agreed to the verification process as proposed by the Ministry of Interior and committed to ensure sending of deportees strictly in line with the Readmission Accord, the immigration laws and the procedures acceptable to Pakistan.

The EU also welcomed the SOPs developed by the Interior Ministry for the transparent and speedy processing of the verification applications as well as Pakistan’s initiative of developing an electronic platform for the issuance of Emergency Travel Document (ETD) to the verified deportees.

While appreciating the newly developed system of interrogation of the deportees by the FIA with a view to take action against the human traffickers and smugglers, the EU side agreed that a 15 days prior information in case of deportees through chartered flights and 3 days prior information in case of deportee(s) through commercial flights will be shared with Pakistan in order to facilitate the FIA in making necessary arrangements for the reception and interrogation of the deportees.

In response to Pakistan’s strong request/ demand, the EU also acknowledged the need for sharing the evidence beforehand with Pakistan in cases where any deportee is accused of criminal/ terrorist activity. EU’s broader engagement with Pakistan including legal migration and mobility as well as the re-integration of the Pakistani migrants sent back from the EU was also discussed during the JRC meeting.