Capitalising on the situation, networks of human traffickers have spread their tentacles around the world and Pakistan being the worst, plagued by the menace of illegal immigration and mafias involved in human smuggling.
According to the Interior Ministry, there are more than 1,000 networks actively involved in transporting people from Pakistan to America, UK, Middle East and European countries illegally and pocketing million of rupees. The business is growing despite campaigns by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA)’s anti-trafficking unit and the provisions of the Anti-Trafficking Law 2002, to dismantle the active network of human traffickers in Pakistan.
Recently, the death of 21 Pakistani illegal immigrants at the hands of human traffickers has triggered deep concern among the public.
The Ansar Burney Trust said that 21 Pakistanis had been killed by traffickers’ negligence in the Iranian city of Bandar Abbas. The victims had been promised jobs in England in return for a hefty payment. Several men hailing from towns in Punjab suffocated to death inside a container near the Iranian city of Shiraz.
The incident bore a disturbing resemblance to the deaths in 2009 of over 50 Afghan migrants who were found in an abandoned container in Quetta bound for Iran.
Taftan on the Iranian border and Balochistan’s coastal towns are key transit points for human traffickers. In October 2010, 11 youths from Chawinda had drowned in deep waters of Arabian Sea while going to Muscat through Gwadar.
The aggrieved families of 10 men from Daska, Pasrur (Chawinda), Gujrat, Wazirabad and Lala Musa, who recently died while illegally travelling to Europe through Iran, protested against human trafficking and demanded stern legal action against those involved. They also slammed the FIA and other relevant agencies for their negligence in nabbing the business.
Ghulam Abbas, father of deceased Bilal Ahmed, Rehmat Ali, father of deceased Aamir and Muhammad Yousaf, father of deceased Muhammad Nouman, said though they had lost their beloved sons, they wanted an end to the inhuman practice and tragedies caused by it.
They said that their sons had paid Rs 370,000 each to agents based in Daska, Karachi and Quetta. However, they were unable to tell the names of human traffickers for whom the agents worked.
FIA Gujranwala Region Deputy Director Gul Sanobar Khan said the FIA had formed a special team comprising Inspector Muhammad Hanif Chaudhry and Inspector Shaukat Goraya to raid the possible hideouts of the human traffickers involved. Gul said 35 human traffickers wanted by the FIA belonged to the Gujranwala region, out of which 21 had already been arrested.
An Anti-Human Trafficking Unit report revealed that the UK government sent a report to the FIA claiming 71 Pakistani and Afghan nationals reached the UK with stolen and forged travel documents, allegedly with the help of Pakistani immigration officials. The report identified specific cases of illegal immigrants from Pakistan and Afghanistan, who arrived in the UK between January 1, 2010 and May 17, 2011. They allegedly paid Rs 70 million to human traffickers, who moved them from Lahore and Islamabad airports to Britain on 13 flights. Of the 13 flights, 12 were from Islamabad and one from Lahore.
A senior FIA official told Pakistan Today that the Anti-Trafficking Unit had busted around 823 alleged human traffickers, including 117 Red Book suspects, in 2010. However, the networks were still multiplying, he added.
“Pakistan has been facing the brunt of human trafficking for quite some time. Prior to 2002, there was no specific law in Pakistan to deal with trafficking related offences. Later, the government promulgated a comprehensive law to overcome the menace of trafficking in all forms and manifestations. This was called Prevention and Control of Human Trafficking Ordinance (P&CHTO), 2002,” he added.
Sources said in order to prevent forgery and travel document fraud, a specialised system called the Personal Identification Secure Comparison Evaluation System (PISCES) was now operational at nearly all exit/entry points. Other interventions included Computerised National Identity Cards, machine-readable passports and automated finger print impression system.
“An Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) including FIA, FC Balochistan, Balochistan Levies, Coast Guards, Maritime Security Agency, and police has been initiated with the task to stop people being trafficked and apprehend human traffickers at their points of origin (such as internal Punjab), transit (such as Karachi, Mand Billo, Quetta) and exit (coastal areas, Gwadar, Taftan etc) including raids on Lee Market Karachi, hotels and bus stations,” said sources.
There is still much to do. The Government and FIA's concern is focused on external trafficking, that which crosses borders and often the issue is conflated with smuggling. Internal human trafficking is left to the police to resolve with little training to identify cases of trafficking.
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