Offloading not to curb genuine travel, claims FIA chief
ISLAMABAD: Federal Invยญesยญtigation Agency Director Geยญยญneral Dr Usman Anwar on Moยญยญnday said that offloading was a โlawful, preventive, and protective measureโ used only where credible risk indicators exist. โThe objective is to facilitate lawful travel while protecting the countryโs citizens, safeguarding human lives, coยญยญuntering organised criminal networks, and preserving the countryโs international reputation,โ the FIA chief said while talking to reporters here. Dr Anwar said the FIA has intensified intelligence-led passenger screening at international airports, bringing illegal migration through Malawi to โzeroโ and cutting irregular flows to the EU by 64 per cent in early 2026. He said the measures target human smuggling, trafficking and visa abuse, and are meant to protect people from โexploitation, detention, deportation, trafficking, and loss of life on dangerous migration routes,โ not to restrict genuine travel. He said his agency has identified Belarus, Cyprus, Central Asian states and certain Eastern European transit corridors as routes โincreasingly exploited by organised human smuggling networksโ for onward illegal migration to Europe, he said. Malawi also emerged as a high-risk transit hub in 2025. Criminal facilitators, the DG said, lure vulnerable people with false promises of jobs, education, settlement and legal migration. The FIAโs Annual Risk Anaยญlysis Report 2025 listed Souยญtheast Asian cyber-trafficking, organised migrant smuggling networks, and transit migration through Eastern Europe and Central Asia as critical threats. It also noted a rising trend of migration and deportation to Central Asian countries among young residents of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, besides hotspot districts of Punjab. Published in Dawn, June 9th, 2026