Loopholes in the system: Twenty days at Jinnah International Airport

[LRE]

Twenty days at Jinnah International Airport



Thursday, November 06, 2008
By Asadullah

Karachi

A Nigerian national stranded at Jinnah International Airport, Karachi since October 13 was finally flown out on board a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight last Monday.

Aliyu Idris, who departed for Nigeria via Dubai, was stranded at the airport because he had been blacklisted by the ministry of interior after a previous illegal stay in the country.

His case, however, has exposed some glaring loopholes in the system.

Since Idris had not committed any offence on his part this time around, he could not be detained at the FIA lockup outside the airport. Interestingly, however, it would have been a problem even if he was to be taken to the lockup since he could not have been given entry into Pakistan by virtue of being tagged an ‘inadmissible’ traveller.

Another incongruity was that Idris was issued a valid Pakistani visa despite being blacklisted.

When he travelled to Karachi aboard a PIA flight using the visa, he was denied entry. Idris then had to stay in the airport lounge until the PIA, which carried him from Dubai to Karachi on the last leg of his travel from Nigeria, managed to connect him to another flight back home.

That, however, was only after the foreigner spent nearly 20 days in the transit lounge of Jinnah International Airport because the PIA was not able to arrange his hassle-free flight back to Nigeria.

Razzaq Cheema, the deputy director of the FIA immigration circle, confirmed that the PIA had finally taken Aliyu Idris back to Dubai. “They (PIA) could not take him to Dubai immediately as he was not booked for a connecting flight to his home.”

The FIA official said that the Nigerian national stayed in the transit lounge throughout the time before his final eviction, and added that his agency can not detain anybody unless an offence is committed. Inadmissible travellers are usually handed over to the airline for their earliest deportation to their country of origin.

Sources said that the PIA could not take him back immediately to Dubai, fearing another deportation back to Karachi for neither carrying a ticket for a connecting flight nor having visa for Dubai. It all took 20 days to sort out.

“We had to ensure his departure not only from Karachi but from Dubai as well for his hometown,” said Anzar Barakzai, the station manager of PIA Karachi. “From Dubai onwards, he was supposed to fly with a chartered flight and it all took time.”

Sources in the FIA passport and emigration circles told The News that Aliyu Idris had entered Pakistan on September 6, 2007, on a visa issued by the Pakistan High Commission in Abuja.

During his stay, Idris secured a visa extension of up to September 25, 2007. He overstayed and was subsequently deported back to Nigera on May 8, 2008. He was also blacklisted by interior ministry for his illegal stay.

The FIA sources said that Aliyu Idris once again landed at Jinnah International Airport on October 13, 2008, but this time the immigration staff on duty found his name to be blacklisted in their immigration computer system called Pisces.

“This raised alarm,” an FIA officer informed. “We denied him entry into Pakistan and notified the PIA, his carrier from Dubai in this case, to take him back to his country of origin. We learnt from the PIA that they can’t do it for obvious reasons.”

Sources in FIA and the airline industry said that foreigners who are refused entry have to be flown back by the airline that carried them there in the first place on the next available flight, which normally takes a day or two.

They said that foreigners that are denied entry are handed over to the airline for deportation but no airliner has any guarded facility or space in the transit lounge to ensure their safe custody during the detention period.

It has been suggested to the FIA and Civil Aviation Authority to allow airlines to develop a safe custody space within the transit lounge, which should be guarded jointly by the FIA’s immigration circle and Airport Security Force.

Station managers of different airlines also complained of a shortage of immigration counters and staff at the international arrival lounge. This in itself costs time during peak hours for immigration clearance.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=145165