Pakistan said on Monday it has reached an understanding with the European Union over reviving a 2010 agreement that allows the 27-nation bloc to deport illegal immigrants from that country. Islamabad temporarily suspended in November the readmission deal with the EU, citing its "blatant misuse." Authorities disallowed a plane carrying 30 Pakistanis deported by three European countries to land in the capital Islamabad the following month, provoking a warning from the EU.
Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Khan said at the time that EU states should allow Pakistani authorities to verify deportees' identity before they were flown in, but Brussels rejected his demand. Khan now said both sides had come to an agreement on the issue at a meeting held on February 2. "A broad-based understanding has been reached in the Joint Readmission Committee's meeting in Brussels," said a statement issued by Khan's office in Islamabad.
"The EU acknowledged the need of sharing the evidence beforehand with Pakistan in cases where any deportee is accused of criminal or terrorist activity," it said. A spokeswoman for the EU confirmed that the meeting had taken place and said two parties discussed ways to clarify and smoothen the readmission procedure. But she did not say whether the bloc would respond positively to Pakistan's concerns about the agreement.
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