Pakistan poses ‘serious threat’, warn European Parliamentarians

at 11:15 am
Dominique Bilde (File photo)

New Delhi (NVI): Pakistan is a leader in fake passports and fake documents and poses “serious security threats”, a member of European Parliament has warned, amidst calls by some other members for imposing sanctions on Pakistan for its consistent support to terrorism.

Dominique Bilde regretted in the European Parliament that the European Union is supporting such countries which are “supporting Islamist terrorism”.

Blide spoke in context of recent attack in Paris, on September 25, where two persons were killed by a terrorist outside Charlie Hebdo’s former offices. The terrorist was a Pakistani who had entered France illegally and acquired citizenship by falsifying documents.

“We have seen, Pakistan is the leader in fake passports and fake documents. They have received over 4 billion Euros in aid since 2014. We deplore the impacts. We are supporting certain states and those who are supporting Islamist terrorism,” she said.

According to estimates in 2017, there were over 1,04,000 Pakistanis living in France at that time.

Meanwhile, other members of the European Parliament, including Fulvio Martusciello, Ryszard Czarnecki and Gianna Garcia, have written a letter to the French government and the European Union seeking imposition of sanctions against Pakistan for unabated terrorist activities emanating from there.

The joint letter was addressed to French President Emmanuel Macron, the European Council President Charles Michel, as well as the European Commission President Ursula Von de Leyen.

“We call on the French government and the European Union to introduce sanctions against the unabated terrorist activities emanating from the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. France, Europe, and the world, cannot afford the murder of any additional innocent victims nor should it live in fear from the threats of terrorism,” read the letter.

In the letter, the European Parliament members have stated that since its creation on August 14, 1947, Pakistan has incited untold horrors of the world.

The so-called Citizenship by Investment Scheme, operated by some of the European Union Member States, is often criticized for being sold to persons included in illegal activities, Schengen Visa Info reported.

Through the Golden Visa Scheme, foreigners buy Citizenship in European countries that run such a scheme, providing that they invest in the country. Therefore, European Union Commission continuously calls on countries that run such schemes to put them to an end.

In addition to this, a global citizenship financial advisory service company, Arton Capital points out that in 2014, Pakistan was among the three countries that accounted for 40 per cent of the total number of applications.

Apart from this, the figures revealed by Statista, a German company specializing in market and consumer data, show that in 2016 there were more than 20,600 Pakistani immigrants living in France.