This story by Syed Salman Mehdi originally appeared on Global Voices on December 2, 2025.
A valid visa once meant you could pack your bags and leave without worry. In Pakistan, this basic certainty has eroded. Since early 2025, thousands of citizens with legitimate documents have been stopped at airports by Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) immigration officers moments before boarding. Officials describe the effort as a measure to curb human trafficking. For many travellers, it feels like an attack on their rights and dignity.
The term “offloading” has become increasingly common in cities like Lahore, Sialkot, Islamabad and Karachi. It describes the last-minute refusal of a passenger for an international flight who has already checked in, passed security and reached immigration. No written order is issued. No clear reason is given. Travellers with confirmed tickets and valid visas often find themselves walking back through arrival halls with cancelled journeys stamped in their passports.
What stands out is the scale of these unfortunate events. Families heading for Umrah, a Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, and workers with job contracts in the Gulf and small traders flying to meet partners abroad have all reported being stopped. The practice has been most reported in the Gujrat and Sialkot region in Pakistan, an area known for legal labour migration.
The roots of this crackdown trace back to the Greece boat tragedy of December 2024, in which more than 300 Pakistanis died while attempting to illegally reach Europe by sea. Images of the wreck shook the country and drew sharp international criticism. In response, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif directed agencies to crush smuggling networks, and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Pakistan’s border security and intelligence agency, was instructed to intercept suspected illegal migrants before departure.
Pressure also mounted from destination states. Officials in the UAE and other Gulf countries demanded tighter controls after repeated infiltration of undocumented workers. What began as a targeted campaign soon expanded into a blanket policy that disrupted both traffickers and ordinary travellers.
The official explanation sounds reasonable. The state says it wants to protect its citizens from dangerous routes and stop migrants who carry false papers. Yet most accounts from travellers reveal another story. Decisions at the immigration counter often hinge on instinct rather than evidence. Young men from cities such as Gujrat, Mandi Bahauddin or Narowal of Punjab Province draw extra attention. First-time travellers face more questions. People in simple clothes are interrogated more aggressively than those in business suits. Even indirect flight paths raise suspicion, despite matching the visa holder’s destination. When an officer feels uncertain, the passenger is removed. On November 23, 2025, nine men at Sialkot Airport were removed from a flight to Djibouti even though their visas were verified. They had paid for tickets, booked accommodation and cleared security without issues. After that, they returned home with nothing but losses.
A deeper problem lies in the way the system treats suspicion as guilt. A traveller can be barred from leaving the country because of any registered First Information Report (FIR) against the person, even if the case is old or disputed. Courts do not review these stops in real time. An officer simply states that a traveller’s name is flagged in the system, a phrase travellers say is sometimes used to signal a request for payment without openly asking for bribes. A land dispute, a neighbourhood quarrel or a ten-year-old complaint can derail a work contract or a family trip.
The result is undermining Article 15 of Pakistan’s Constitution, which states that every citizen has the right to leave the country. Many travellers have learned this the hard way at airport counters where there is no appeal, no senior officer to intervene and no written explanation.
Entire districts in Gujrat and Sialkot now feel singled out. The region that is the source of both legal workers and irregular migrants has become the focal point of the crackdown. The Gujrat Chamber of Commerce and Industry has raised concerns that its businessmen are being profiled because of their home addresses. This region brings billions of foreign currency in annual remittances from migrants which supports countless households. Yet its residents face intense scrutiny. Even passengers flying from Karachi with Punjab passports report long interviews and repeated document checks, with many first-time travellers saying they are often barred from departure. The burden of suspicion has settled on a region that has long supported Pakistan’s economy.
The confusion deepened in late 2025 when rumours spread about the requirements for new paperwork for workers seeking to go abroad. The Protector of Emigrants system was already struggling with delays and fake stamps, and talk of an additional requirement only heightened anxiety. Travellers were told to obtain affidavits signed by at least one entry‑level gazetted civil servant stating they would not seek asylum abroad. Many complied out of fear. Some were still offloaded and some were denied boarding unless they paid bribes. Minister Chaudhry Salik Hussain later denied that any such rule existed. The damage, however, was done. Workers now arrive with bundles of unnecessary documents because they no longer trust the information they receive at airports.
The experience of being offloaded is harsh. Passengers are quietly asked to step aside. Their bags are returned, their tickets lapse, and officials merely state that the order comes from the FIA. The financial blow can be severe. A worker bound for Saudi Arabia may lose the savings of an entire family. A trader may miss a fair or a contract signing that he spent months preparing for. A family travelling for Umrah may lose money for hotel and transport bookings. Many have taken loans or sold land to fund these trips. They leave the airport holding cancelled passports and a sense of despair.
One question remains central: has this heavy screening reduced human trafficking? There is no clear sign that it has. Networks that once used airports now move people through Balochistan and the Iran land border. Others rely on sea routes that bypass major airports entirely. Meanwhile, anxiety among lawful travellers has grown. The cost of lost flights, lost jobs and lost trust is immense. The crackdown appears to have shifted routes rather than addressed the problem.
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The confusion deepened in late 2025 when rumours spread about the requirements for new paperwork for workers seeking to go abroad. The Protector of Emigrants system was already struggling with delays and fake stamps, and talk of an additional requirement only heightened anxiety. Travellers were told to obtain affidavits signed by at least one entry‑level gazetted civil servant stating they would not seek asylum abroad. Many complied out of fear. Some were still offloaded and some were denied boarding unless they paid bribes. Minister Chaudhry Salik Hussain later denied that any such rule existed. The damage, however, was done. Workers now arrive with bundles of unnecessary documents because they no longer trust the information they receive at airports.
The experience of being offloaded is harsh. Passengers are quietly asked to step aside. Their bags are returned, their tickets lapse, and officials merely state that the order comes from the FIA. The financial blow can be severe. A worker bound for Saudi Arabia may lose the savings of an entire family. A trader may miss a fair or a contract signing that he spent months preparing for. A family travelling for Umrah may lose money for hotel and transport bookings. Many have taken loans or sold land to fund these trips. They leave the airport holding cancelled passports and a sense of despair.
One question remains central: has this heavy screening reduced human trafficking? There is no clear sign that it has. Networks that once used airports now move people through Balochistan and the Iran land border. Others rely on sea routes that bypass major airports entirely. Meanwhile, anxiety among lawful travellers has grown. The cost of lost flights, lost jobs and lost trust is immense. The crackdown appears to have shifted routes rather than addressed the problem.
Officials promise reforms. Both Chaudhry Salik Hussain and FIA Director General Riffat Mukhtar have spoken of new guidelines to stop abuse of power. Yet promises mean little without transparency. Travellers need written explanations when they are denied boarding. They need a swift mechanism to appeal unfair decisions. They need to know that an officer’s hunch cannot block their right to travel. Until these safeguards are in place, public trust will remain low.
This moment has raised a constitutional debate. Courts in Lahore and Sindh are hearing petitions that challenge offloading without due process. Lawyers argue that denying exit on the basis of accusation, rather than conviction, violates the spirit of the law. The state has a duty to fight trafficking with seriousness. It does not have the right to treat entire communities as suspects or to let airport counters become unchallenged centres of authority.
Pakistan’s overseas workers sent home nearly USD 30 billion in 2024 and 2025. These workers are not a burden. They are the country’s lifeline. Protecting them means respecting their rights, enforcing fair rules and relying on intelligence-driven policing. It requires targeted action against real smugglers and real networks, not blunt profiling at airport gates.
Pakistan needs strong measures against trafficking, but strength does not come from suspicion alone.
A migration analyst explains that “the state can curb trafficking without casting doubt on every legitimate traveller, and any system that makes lawful movement uncertain ultimately weakens public confidence.”
(SY)
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