Dreams of greener pastures
Illegal migrants desperately trying to reach Europe continue to die in tragic accidents. Dead bodies of men, women and children who expired due to suffocation have been recovered from containers downloaded from ships. Some are run over by fast running cars in the Eurotunnel. Still others are shot by border guards. The largest number has however died as overcrowded boats manned by those with no maritime experience capsized on high seas or lost the direction causing migrants to die of hunger and thirst. Migrants from Pakistan form a sizeable number of the thousands who have lost their lives in attempts to reach Europe in the last few years. In the latest incident of the sort on Thursday a boat sank off the Libyan coast, killing 200 including Africans, Bangladeshis and Pakistanis.
Human trafficking is a lucrative business in Pakistan. The victims comprise poor people who are either jobless or belong to minorities targeted by terrorists. The gullible migrants desperately wanting to go abroad are promised safe passage and jobs in return for a hefty fee. The victims sell whatever little property they possess to pay the agent. They are smuggled via Balochistan to Iran. By the time they realise that they have been deceived they are at the mercy of their handlers.
The FIA is assigned the task to nab the criminals behind human trafficking. Some have been arrested. The FIA complains it does not have sufficient funds to get those operating from Iran, Turkey or Saudi Arabia extradited to Pakistan. The masterminds running the trade have agents in government departments. Some enjoy political patronage. In the final analysis it is the laxness on the part of the interior ministry which allows the cruel business to thrive. Every year hundreds of Pakistani families are deprived of whatever meagre possessions they have only to discover a few months later that a son, a husband or a brother who had gone in search of a job had died thousands of kilometres away from his home in painful circumstances.
