Another Boat Accident! Ishraq A Hashmi

Despite arrests, including by FIA officials, in light of the strictest orders of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, human trafficking has not stopped. Human traffickers, who have spread across the country under the guise of recruiting agents, are not stopping from tricking innocent people into sending them abroad. When the news of the Greek boat accident broke last month, there were also reports that thousands of illegal Pakistani migrants were currently in the hands of human traffickers on the arduous and extremely painful land and sea journey to Europe, or had sold several household goods, livestock and paid the agents and were waiting for the green light. Human trafficking is a crime in which one person exploits another for his own financial gain. These people take advantage of the victims’ compulsions and use psychological or physical violence on them. After the boat accident near Greece last month in which 40 Pakistani migrants died, another boat that was carrying 86 people from the African country of Mauritania to Spain sank on January 16 off the coast of Morocco, killing 44 Pakistanis on board. Including 50 people died. 

All this was done deliberately by human traffickers, according to which they kept the boat standing in the open sea for 8 days while demanding more money and during this time they threw several people into the water after torture, and later the boat itself sank. The total number of Pakistanis on board was 66, out of which 22 were rescued by Moroccan officials. The smuggling of illegal immigrants through boats through African countries has been going on for a long time. According to a report, a record 10,457 immigrants from different countries died trying to reach Spain during 2024 alone. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, while seeking a report from the relevant authorities, has reiterated his resolve to take strict action against those involved in human trafficking and their facilitators. Under the orders of the Prime Minister, the FIA ​​arrested 185 human traffickers and recruiting agents in a month and sent their cases to the courts. 20 FIA officials are under investigation. In addition, 15 people have been arrested in connection with the Greek boat accident, while the same number of their facilitators have been arrested. 

The properties of the accused worth more than Rs 450 million were seized and bank accounts worth Rs 70 million were frozen. In light of the unavoidable requirements of the prevailing situation and the strictest instructions of the Prime Minister, the aforementioned actions against those involved in human trafficking will prove to be encouraging if their network is exposed with complete arrests and the matter is taken to its logical conclusion through investigation in the light of the rescued migrants and their statements. It should be noted that human traffickers move from one country to another through their network when necessary, which should be remedied by making the screening system at airports more effective and no effort should be spared in reaching their facilitators. Amendments can be made to the existing laws while reviewing them and they should be made so that they are as effective as possible. It should be made solid so that there is no scope for them to be taken advantage of.