Lahore: Pakistan on Tuesday refused entry to 120 Pakistani citizens deported by Saudi Arabia for not having the requisite entry documents but later allowed entry to the deportees on orders of the interior ministry, airport sources said.
A flight from Jeddah carried the deportees to Lahore airport on Tuesday, however, immigration officials refused them entry as the deportees did not have the required documents needed for entry.
It was not clear why Saudi authorities deported the Pakistani citizens, at least 15 of whom were women.
Sources said immigration authorities wanted to send the deportees back to Jeddah after refusing to process their entry into Pakistan. Meanwhile, Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) officials wanted to detain the deportees, as is the standard procedure.
However, the deportees were later allowed entry into the country by order of the interior ministry. FIA is now expected to take the deportees into custody.
Earlier on Dec 10, Pakistani authorities refused to accept six migrants after the FIA found that they had been illegally deported to Pakistan from the UK.
About 36 others, who possessed travel documents, were accepted by Pakistani authorities – 34 of whom were allowed to go home after brief questioning. Two others were sent to the Anti-Human Trafficking Cell.
A week earlier, the authorities refused to accept 49 illegal Pakistani immigrants who had been deported by Greek authorities. Only 19 people were accepted following verification. The remaining 30 deportees were sent back to Greece on the special flight that brought them to Pakistan.
In a statement released at the time, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar said: “No unregistered deportee will be allowed to come to Pakistan and if that happens they will be sent back.”
