The immigration wing of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has offloaded a family at Jinnah International Airport after suspecting an attempt to seek asylum abroad under the guise of a visit visa, officials said on Monday.
According to an FIA spokesperson, the family, hailing from Bahawalpur, had arrived at the airport to travel to Sri Lanka. During the immigration clearance, they were stopped for further scrutiny due to suspicious travel details. Upon detailed questioning, the passengers failed to present a clear travel plan. Officials found that they neither had hotel bookings nor sufficient financial resources to support their stay.
During the inquiry, a female passenger, identified as Rukhsana, revealed that her husband had been residing in Sri Lanka for the past five years and had already obtained political asylum under the United Nations framework.
The passengers were unable to provide satisfactory answers regarding the purpose of their visit and later admitted that they intended to seek asylum in Sri Lanka. Authorities said the visit visa was being used to conceal their actual intent. One of the passengers, Mohsin Nawaz, also confessed to contacting an agent, identified as Akhtar, and paying Rs550,000 per person for arrangements. In light of these findings, the family was offloaded and the case referred to the Anti-Human Trafficking Circle (AHTC) Karachi. Further investigations are under way.
