Pakistani teenager Shefaz Hamza spent nine hours at sea clinging to the wreckage of a migrant boat that sank off the coast of Libya, killing up to 200 people. By the time the coast guard arrived, Hamza’s mother and young sister could hold on no longer, and had already drowned. They were among at least 76 people to die when their boat sank on Thursday off the western port of Zuwara, according to Red Crescent spokesman Mohamad al-Misrati. Up to 198 other people were saved, including many of Arab and African origin, but dozens of others are still missing at sea. Three separate boat tragedies off the coast of Libya on Wednesday and Thursday this week have caused the deaths of dozens of refugees, trying to reach the coasts of Italy and Greece. Some 52 people were found drowned in the hold of a sinking boat on Wednesday, with 450 people rescued. On Thursday, two boats capsized killing up to 200 people. The first boat, which was carrying around 50 people, overturned early on Wednesday followed by the second which sank while overloaded with around 400 passengers. Libyan coastguards said they had rescued around 200 people and had worked overnight to search for survivors. 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 meager 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.
pk.shafaqna.com
