Just 29 of 66,000 Pakistan applicants interviewed

Despite a "rigorous new system" for immigration control being in place, British officials have questioned face-to face only 29 out of 66,000 visa applicants from Pakistan in the last one year.

The visa checks on immigrants from Pakistan have been condemned as a "sham", a Daily Mail report said on Thursday citing the latest statistics. The Home Office set up the `hub and spoke' scheme in 2008 to prevent terrorists, extremists, illegals and criminals from entering the UK. But though the new system was operating since last October, data has revealed that just one in a thousand of those granted visas was "quizzed face to face". Figures showed that just 29 out of 66,000 applicants were interviewed by officials, the report said. The Opposition Tories said the statistics were proof that Britain's immigration controls are "wholly inadequate".

"Gordon Brown and MI5 boss Jonathan Evans have stated publicly that militants from Pakistan are the biggest terrorist threat to Britain and the country is classified as a `high risk' for visas by the home office,"the Mail noted.

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