PTI

New Delhi, Dec 18: With a view to checking human trafficking, the Government plans to introduce biometric passport system that will include finger-printing, by 2010, external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee said.

"We have decided to introduce biometric passport system. We intend to complete the entire process by 2010," he said replying to supplementaries during the Question Hour in Rajya Sabha.

Stating that there was a nexus of recruiting agencies and employers in human trafficking, Mukherjee added that Indian workers fall for the lure of more money and resort to illegal migration and end up being harassed and exploited.

"Our policy is whenever the nationality (of the worker detained by a foreign country for illegal migration) is identified, we bring them back," he said.

Many illegal migrants destroy their passport and other identity proof on landing on the foreign soil, making it difficult to ascertain their nationality and stay on using liberal immigration rules.

He, however, categorically stated that India was not sending any "terrorist" to foreign countries using the human trafficking network. "These (people going illegally from India to foreign land) are civilians, job seekers... we are not sending any terrorist or infiltrators into any country."

Government, he said, adopts a multi-pronged approach to combat trafficking, which encompasses prevention through stronger law enforcement, rescue and rehabilitation of victims including through repatriation of those confirmed to be Indian nationals.