ISLAMABAD - The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has itself been found involved in human trafficking as, according to highly confidential data, a number of Pakistanis in connivance with the agency’s officials were sent abroad on fake documents during the last one year of PPP regime.
Independent observers are demanding an inquiry into this illegal business of human smuggling that had been allegedly done with the help of none other than FIA officials though FIA’s major job is to act against human smugglers.
According to the very sensitive data of FIA, a number of Pakistanis were sent aboard on forged documents during January 2012 to January 2013 with the help of FIA and most of them were sent from Benazir Bhutto International Airport, Islamabad. During this period, Sajjad Haider, a close aide to the then interior minister Rehman Malik, was the zonal director of Islamabad. He remained zonal director from June 2012 to March 2013. Muhammad Anwar Virk was the director general (DG) FIA at that time. A close relative of former state minister for interior Safdar Warriach who was deputed in FIA at that time had also been allegedly named among the key FIA officials who were involved in human trafficking during that period.
Some wonderful cases of human trafficking have surfaced, as in some cases the inadmissible passengers (illegal passengers) were deported from different countries and FIA Immigration Wing managed to again get them fly abroad in other flights. Similarly, no action was taken against such deportees despite the fact that a case has to be registered against such travellers by FIA’s Anti-Human Trafficking Cell (AHTC) or Immigration Wing under the local immigration laws and Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).
Under the standard operating procedure (SOP), airline concerned informs FIA about the passenger that travels on fake documents, as that airline has to pay fine for carrying inadmissible traveller.
Well-placed sources in the FIA Immigration Wing informed that data of such inadmissible passengers was deleted from the record from the FIA by then management to avoid future inquiries and data can only be available in IBMS (Integrated Border Management System), installed by FIA at all major airports of the country.
According a senior FIA officer, the agency considers that eight inadmissible passengers travelled in a flight if one such passenger is detected from the same one.
Saifur Rehman, passport number KF 948683, went to Germany via Muscat on forged documents on December 20, 2012 in connivance with FIA officials and he was deported. However, FIA neither took action against him nor fed his data in IBMS. And it would be a surprising for anyone that he was again sent to Germany on January 21, 2013 by immigration officials on a passport that has been issued from Pakistani Embassy in Berlin, Germany. The Embassy of Germany in Pakistan complained to FIA but it turned a deaf ear to the complaint.
Faisal Bashir, passport no AD3843383, was sent to France on forged documents where he got asylum in Paris. The case of Junaid Sami Khan, passport number DV4103324, is also another classical example of FIA’s involvement in human trafficking. Sami was travelling from Karachi to UK via Riyadh through Saudi Airline and in Riyadh, he was detected by the UK’s liaison officer and consequently, he was deported.
The FIA sources informed that British High Commission in Pakistan had written to then Director General of the FIA Muhammad Anwar Virk and then director immigration and zonal director but no action was ever taken. The sources further said that some three persons had already been travelled on the same passport.
Adnan Saeed, passport number DN5972281, went to Canada from Islamabad on fake documents through PIA flight number PK-781 and he had no record in IBMS. Parveen Akhtar, passport number K0222381, along with an infant was deported to Pakistan from Muscat who was travelling for Germany but no case was registered by AHTC. Later, she was declared innocent in an inquiry that was for cover-up, as the case was played up by the media. A case had to be registered against her under Prevention of Child Human Trafficking Ordinance (PCHTO), 2004 and immigration laws.
Sajjad Haider, former director FIA, could not be contacted as he is abroad for the last more than six months. The version of FIA on the issue could not be taken, as it had no official spokesman.
Background interviews with the FIA officials connected with its Immigration Wing revealed that four airlines including Emirates, PIA, Oman and Qatar were being used by FIA for this illegal business of human trafficking. According to the data of FIA, the PIA had to bear much cost of deportation (CoD) for carrying inadmissible passengers during the 2012. Schengen countries charge 5,000 euros from the airline concerned responsible for carrying each inadmissible passenger while Canadian authorities charge 5000 Canadian dollars in each case. An official of Immigration Wing said that PIA’s flight number PK-781 that used to fly from Karachi to Islamabad and then to Canada was commonly being used by FIA officials in Islamabad to load passengers having fake travelling documents.
He said that the human smugglers had fixed rate of Rs 2.5 million for sending the passenger on forged documents to Canada and 1.5 million for Europe including UK, Germany, Spain, Itlay and Turkey.
The data of inadmissible passengers (illegal passengers) who travelled from Islamabad during 2012 is given below:
Faisal Bashir, Passport number AD3843383, SaqibHusnain, AH6804702, Abdul Sattar, AJ5421931, Parveen Akhtar with infant, K0222381, Jam Munir Ahmed, DG116701, Adnan Saeed, DN5972281, Abdul Salam, DP5758841, Adnan Khan, PQ1159721, Yasir Nawaz, Aw9612192, Zahoor Farva, CK5127712, Ali Nawaz (infant), CW9614901, Fida Hussain, NL6896091, Adnan Khalid, BT4110942, Arshad Mahmood, FX0157862, Muhammad Awan, AM1602981, Sahar Afshin, VS1976531, Ali Akbar, JA1796832, Abrar Ali Khan, LB4108512, Umar Nawaz, CZ9610431, Ghulam Murtaza, AM0973042, Bilal Ahmed Bhatti, BJ3172731, Mohammad Shamraiz, KH084661, Imran Rafique, AV9564381, Khalid Muhammed, QR4104962, Sikandar Hayat, BR6179701, Farid Ahmed, QJ1159241, Imran Shahid, GS5142774, Hikmat Ulla, BQ2746141, Muhammad Saqib Nawaz, BC9610902, Raja Nasir, KG599141, Qaiser Usman, CB4911051, Aman Allah, BY1200232, Muhammad Ayyub Khan, CS4125631, Latif Saddam, BA8482071, Tariq Mahmood Butt, AK3497862, Usman Qadir, AP4427122, Sajjad Ahmed, KG355566, Muhammad Saqib, AH6804702, Muhammad Ammar, BX3844201, Pervaiz Tariq, AU3991363, Babar Azeem, AC1856123, Abdul Salam, DP5758841, and Muhammad Mashod, BG8967872.
Inadmissible Passengers who travelled from Karachi during 2012 included: Junaid Sami Khan, Passport number DV4103324, Yasir Ishaq, EY184183, Khalil Ahmed, DB1169061, Muhammad Rizwan, CC9897211, Tariq Saleem, FP4104763, M Waqas, 04CE20445, Abdul Tayyab, AA7130752, Abdul Samad, AB5278391, Hasan, BS122825, Anwar Usman, JL1809201, Muhammad Qadri, BN4423461, Perveen Mubashira, GH3999181, Saddam Hussain, DS1076381, KomalAslam, AM9798882, M Ghazanfar, AM4119152, M Gulzar, AJ4710352, and Muhammad Sadeer, AQ5422651.
Inadmissible passengers who travelled from Lahore during 2012 included: Shahjahan, Passport number HQ5147851, Ahmad Maqsood, DS1152222, Qurban Ali, KH339516, Munawar Ahmed, DG1163111, Ali Anwar, YJ792121, Khurram Shehzad, EP5148312, Shahzadi Irum, 5142492, and Rasool Ashiq, AW9807831.
Inadmissible passengers who travelled from Peshawar during 2012 included: Sharbat Khan, Passport number EJ4118041, BakitRawan, AC9606301, Shakeel Umar, AC9606301, Said Kamal, AL4203141, Muhammad Numan, BL1881181, Muhammad Khalid, DQ4113961, Mushtaq Ahmed, PC1158851, Muhammad Sivar, EC5125691, Abdul Rehman, DW9151921, FazleMawla, KG801431, and Muhammad Aslam, CB1809141.
Inadmissible passengers who travelled from Sialkot during 2012 included: Muhammad Ahsan, Passport number CB1115201, Abu Bakar Siddique, CF5463142, Rashid Mehmood, QY0154771, Muhammad Saleem, DQ5750031, and Muhammad Mujahid, SZ0151251.
Other Inadmissible passengers who travelled during 2012 included: Faisal Mehmood, Passport number A7203493, Muhammad Zaman, AD5202452, Hasan Hafeez, EN6809391, and Sher Salik, CC51128791.