Pakistan to demand proof of terror charges for deportees

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Tuesday instructed its diplomatic missions in European capitals to demand evidence of a potential crime when host countries sought to deport illegal immigrants being held on terror charges to Pakistan.

The move came days after Islamabad said it had suspended its agreement on the readmission of illegal immigrants with European Union countries, except Britain, because of its "blatant misuse".

During a meeting on Tuesday, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan directed Pakistani diplomatic missions in Europe to demand proof from host governments that wanted to deport Pakistanis on terror charges, a statement said.

"It is a violation of human rights if any Pakistani is deported on terror charges without any proof," he said, according to the statement.

"We have to not only give courage to Pakistani expatriates, but also stand by them at every step."

Khan also warned that airlines that carried deportees back to Pakistan without the interior ministry´s permission or without travel documents would have to pay unspecified fines.

The 2010 agreement that Pakistan said it had suspended aimed to facilitate the return of Pakistani illegal immigrants and other nationals who had transited through Pakistan before arriving in the EU.

Khan said on Friday that 90,000 people were sent back to Pakistan from various countries last year alone.