Saifuddin said Syed Fawad Ali Shah was found to have breached the Immigration Act.

“The ministry takes the issue of undocumented migrants entering the country seriously,” he said in a written parliamentary reply to RSN Rayer, the MP for Jelutong.

Fawad was deported to Pakistan on Aug 25 last year.

Rayer had asked why Fawad was deported although he was no threat to the country.

In January, Saifuddin said while the Malaysian media had described Fawad as a journalist, Pakistani authorities claimed that he was a former policeman facing disciplinary problems, a charge that Fawad’s wife denied.

Saifuddin said the Pakistani authorities had requested through their high commission in Kuala Lumpur that Fawad be located and informed to return to his home country.

Last month, Fawad’s lawyer confirmed that he had been released from prison in Pakistan after he was detained for more than six months following his deportation.

Fawad, 41, who holds a United Nations refugee card, had sought asylum in Malaysia for alleged persecution in Pakistan over articles published in several English dailies there related to alleged government corruption.