Govt orders action against aliens entering Pakistan

Staff Report

KARACHI: The government has ordered all the provincial governments to take action against illegal immigrants who entered the country after 2001, a senior official in the Interior Ministry told Daily Times.

The National Alien Registration Authority (NARA), which operates under the Interior Ministry, had started registering illegal immigrants since January 2002.

The ministry has decided to offer registration only to those foreigners who entered the country until Dec. 31, 2001, the official said.

“All those who entered Pakistan illegally after this date will not be allowed to stay here as registered illegal immigrants, and be expelled,” the official said.

Official figures show that during the last two years, the NARA has registered about 79,000 out of the 1.8 million illegal immigrants living only in Karachi. “This figure is far less than that of immigrants who entered the country illegally during the two years since the NARA started registration,” another official said. Some officials even admitted that a number of registered aliens entered Pakistan well after January 2002. Senior NARA officials say the authority may search for these people and expel them from the country with the help of the law-enforcement agencies. But other officials said this was realistically impossible, given that the authority has insufficient manpower and tools to detect such people. The NARA has started establishing its camps in the police stations of various areas located on the Sindh-Balochistan coastline in a bid to catch registered illegal immigrants who entered the country after the deadline and register those who are here before January 2002. Officials in the authority decided to establish camps in the police stations after illegal immigrants, particularly those from Bangladesh, beat up members of NARA teams.

The first camp of its kind had been established in Hub in Balochistan and more will be established in parts of Karachi, the districts of Thatta and Badin in Sindh and Gwadar in Balochistan. Meanwhile, the Sindh Home Department has asked the law-enforcement agencies to help NARA officials in getting the aliens registered and deport fresh entrants to their native countries. The officials concerned believe the illegal immigrants have reportedly been depriving the government of revenue and are even posing a threat to national security.

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