Norway Deports Pakistani Asylum Seekers

Norway has deported around 30 Pakistani nationals seeking asylum in the Scandinavian country.

The Norwegian Embassy in Islamabad said the Pakistani asylum seekers were deported in the past several weeks.

Torben Eskelund, a spokesman for immigration department at the Norwegian Embassy in Islamabad, told RFE/RL on November 27 that the number of deportees might increase as more cases are processed.

Eskelund said more than 400 Pakistanis had applied for asylum in Norway this year.

He added that more than 300 had entered Norway through the so-called Nordic route via Russia.

Norway has tightened its immigration laws as an unprecedented number of people -- mainly fleeing wars in Afghanistan, Syria, and Iraq -- seek asylum in the country.