CHAGAI: A total of 19,372 Pakistani nationals, including women and children, were deported by Iran in 2020 after they illegally entered the country.

According to official data available with Dawn, in January, February and March last year 431, 359, and 224 Pakistani citizens, respectively, were handed over to Pakistani authorities at Taftan border in Chagai district.

In April and May, the deportation process was stopped as the border between Pakistan and Iran was closed owing to the spread of coronavirus. As restrictions were little normalised in June last year, the number of illegal immigrants grew with more than 16,000 people who were sent back to the country after being arrested in different parts of Iran for not having valid travelling documents till October last year.

Only in October 6,799 illegal Pakistani migrants were deported via Taftan border by Iranian authorities.

However, in November and December last year the number illegal migrants decreased with 1,070 and 465, respectively.

Official sources in Levies Force and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) told Dawn that illegal Pakistani migrants belonged to different parts of central Punjab, upper Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and some from Balochistan.

Aspiring to get a better livelihood, majority of illegal migrants set their destinations in Turkey and European countries where they want to get better employment opportunities.

The sources said that all deportees were prosecuted under the passport act by the FIA in the court of judicial magistrate. They said Iran had put a large number of illegal Pakistani immigrants in their prisons during August last year. They were later deported in phases on a daily basis.

Published in Dawn, January 5th, 2021