LAHORE: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) is discouraging the first-time travel of passengers, aged around 35, particularly those belonging to Gujranwala, Gujrat, Sialkot, Mandi Bahauddin and Jhelum, to certain countries including Saudi Arabia even for Umrah.

The agency is ensuring a strict profiling of passengers travelling to 15 countries, including Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Turkiye, Qatar, Azerbai­jan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Egypt, Libya, Ethiopia, Senegal, Mauritania and Kenya.

“The passengers must have an un-doubtful travel purpose, paid hotel booking and sufficient funds,” the FIA said in a report submitted to the Lahore High Court (LHC) in connection with a petition of a pilgrim who had been barred from travelling to Saudi Arabia for Umrah.

The FIA claimed that those travelling for Umrah must have adequate religious knowledge.

Passenger intending to go for Umrah moves court after being off-loaded

In the recent tragedies of boats capsizing in Libya, South Greece and Morocco/Mauritania, most of the passengers survived or died departed from Pakistan on the pretext of Umrah visit visas, the FIA report stated. It added that most of them were between 15 and 40 years of age and hailing from Mandi Bahauddin, Gujrat, Sialkot, Gujranwala, Bhimber, Jhelum, Toba Tek Singh, Hafizabad and Sheikhpura.

The immigration authorities at the airports have been conducting a thorough verification of the documents of passengers, besides interviewing them regarding purpose of travel and financial arrangements.

The report said a recent analysis of the Immigration Border Management System (IBMS) database revealed concerning patterns in passengers’ movement on visit, tourist and student visas between July and December 2024.

It said the analysis identified systematic misuse of such visa categories, whereby the individuals secure entry to transit countries as part of unauthorised movement to Europe.

The Risk Analysis Unit identified the 15 countries as frequent transit routes for illegal immigration, the report added.

About the petitioner, Muhammad Farhan, the FIA official informed the court that he was offloaded in compliance with the new directives issued by the authorities. The petitioner, a resident of Sheikhpura, was offloaded from a Saudi Arabia-bound flight at the Lahore airport.

The petitioner argued that Saudi Arabia had legally issued him a visa for Umrah. He claimed that offloading him despite no ‘illegal movement’ was unjustified and violation of his fundamental rights.

He named the federal government, religious affairs secretary, interior secretary, FIA director general and additional director (immigration) as respondents.

Published in Dawn, March 1st, 2025