Bosnian government endorses readmission agreement with Pakistan

By concluding this agreement, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Pakistan would reaffirm their readiness to join international efforts to prevent illegal migration by regulating the acceptance of their own nationals, third-country nationals and stateless persons staying in their respective countries illegally.

The agreement has been referred to the Bosnia and Herzegovina Presidency for approval.

The Council of Ministers noted that this is a very important agreement because in the last three years Bosnia and Herzegovina has become an important route for illegal migration which encourages smuggling of people, drugs, stolen vehicles and other forms of organised crime.

About 14,000 migrants have entered Bosnia and Herzegovina illegally this year with the aim of reaching Western European countries via Croatia.

Bosnian security services have found that 27 percent of the illegal migrants are from Afghanistan, 23 percent from Pakistan, 19 percent from Bangladesh and 10 percent from Morocco.

Security Minister Selmo Cikotic said earlier that it was impossible to establish the identity of as many as 99 percent of migrants because they had no documents on them.