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Pak agrees to 'take back' citizens residing illegally in UK
Pakistan on Thursday agreed to take back thousands of its citizens who are illegally residing in the UK without "valid reasons", even as President Asif Ali Zardari arrived in London for a visit.
Pakistan on Thursday agreed to take back thousands of its citizens who are illegally residing in the UK without "valid reasons", even as President Asif Ali Zardari arrived in London for a visit.
Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik and his British Home Secretary Allan Johnson on Thursday met in London and agreed to issue emergency travel documents to Pakistani nationals detained or living illegally in Britain to return home.
Thousands of Pakistanis would benefit from the understanding reached between the two countries, Malik said.
Johnson, pointing to the number of "illegal" asylum seekers detained in British jails, said that people "who do not have a valid reason to stay in the UK need to return."
The detainees would be issued emergency passports by the Pakistani High Commission free-of-cost and the UK would facilitate their return, Malik said.
"Let me be very clear and inform the Pakistanis that they must not think that they can get a permanent status if they stay here illegally for ten years or more," he said.
