ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has directed to identify officials of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), who facilitate human traffickers and take stern action against them.
He was presiding over a meeting regarding the prevention of human trafficking in Islamabad on Friday.
The Prime Minister instructed us to complete an ongoing investigation into the human trafficking issue at the earliest and submit concrete recommendations. He said human trafficking earns a bad name for Pakistan in the entire world.
Shehbaz Sharif said a substantial delay was committed in taking action against the responsible following the boat capsizing incident in 2023.
The meeting was briefed on the measures taken so far to curb human trafficking and about the recent boat incident in Greece. It was informed that five Pakistanis, who died in the Greek boat incident, have been identified while the process for identification of others is underway.
It was further told that Pakistan Embassy in Athens is consistently in touch with the Greek authorities regarding the boat incident.
The meeting was briefed that the Pakistani Embassy in Athens can be contacted on the helpline number +30-6943850188 and the Crisis Management Unit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Islamabad on telephone number 051-9207887 for obtaining any kind of information and assistance regarding the boat incident.
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It was said that people belonging to Gujranwala, Gujrat, Sialkot and Mandi Bahauddin districts are mostly the victims of human traffickers. Moreover, legislation to stop human trafficking is also being improved.
Meanwhile, FIA’s Anti-Human Trafficking Circle has arrested two human smugglers involved in the Greek boat accident.
According to a spokesperson for FIA, the smugglers took Rs.8.8 million to send four people to Italy illegally. Two persons, Hammad and Khawar, died in the accident. An investigation is underway. Furthermore, raids are being conducted to arrest their accomplices.
In 2023, hundreds of migrants, including 262 Pakistanis, drowned when an overcrowded vessel capsized and sank in international waters off the southwestern Greek coastal town of Pylos. It was one of the deadliest boat disasters ever recorded in the Mediterranean Sea.
Greece was a favoured gateway to the European Union for migrants and refugees from the Middle East, Africa and Asia in 2015-2016, when nearly 1 million people landed on its islands, mostly via inflatable dinghies.
