Ali Sukhanver
A very successful way to entrap dangerous rather very intelligent criminals is Sting Operation. Not only in Asian countries but everywhere all over the world tool of Sting Operation has always been frequently used. Even in Israel and USA the law enforcement agencies take support of the Sting Operations. In most of countries Sting Operations are considered a legal action against the criminals but there are a few countries like Sweden and France where Sting Operations are not permitted. According to a definition, “A Sting Operation is a deceptive operation designed to catch a criminal red-handed.” Such operations are materialized with help of undercover law enforcement officers, detectives or cooperative members of society. These members play a role as criminal partner or potential victim and go along with a suspect’s actions to gather evidence of suspect’s wrongdoing. Occasionally mass media journalists also provide a support to Sting Operations by recording video and voice-clips.
It is always a very difficult task to trap the criminals involved in white-collar crimes but through Sting Operations many of such criminals have been arrested; a large number of such criminals is of those involved in visa frauds and fake travel-documents. Some involved in terrorism and drug-trafficking have also been reached through Sting Operations. Usually the targets of criminals involved in visa-frauds and fake travel-documents are the young students aspiring to enter the prosperous and peaceful countries like US, UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. The peace and prosperity of such countries have made them the most attractive destinations for international students. Apparently these students seem seeking a world-class, internationally recognized educational degree from there but actually they are in search of a permanent abode where they could live a happy life; among such students, the largest number belongs to India. Certainly things are not very hopeful for the young students in India; they have to face scarcity of jobs and new avenues of progress as well. An overall atmosphere of lawlessness adds more to their pathetic condition. Most of the Indian students dream of becoming a permanent part of some overseas society. UNESCO Institute of Statistics said in an analysis that in 2000 the total number of Indian overseas students was 66,713; this number increased to 3, 01,406 in 2016. The analysis report pointed out average annual growth rate of 22% in a span of 16 years. This increasing number of the aspirant Indian students was something very alarming for the countries where these students had been trying to reach. An international intelligence networking unit pointed a surge in student visa frauds especially from India in the years 2011-12; the same report was on-aired different TV channels also. So to keep an eye on the criminals involved in visa-frauds and to crack down on students, the destination countries designed Sting Operations against the culprits. Unfortunately these operations did not do all that was required.
In March 2020, New Zealand’s first MP Shane Jones had made a complaint talking to the media-men that the Indian students were ruining academic institutions in New Zealand. He said, “I think that the students that have come from India have ruined many of our institutions, I think it’s a backdoor to citizenship’. He further said that many Indian students were found involved in criminal activities like prostitution. In 2019 also, he had raised his concerns in relation of Indian community. His words were, “The Indians have no legitimate expectations in my view to bring their whole village to New Zealand.’ It was not only New Zealand in trouble because of Indian students; even the US has been facing the same type of problems. US had to devise Sting Operations so many times against the immigrants from India. One of these Sting Operations was planned by US Department of Homeland Security Metro Detroit.
Just to catch students for alleged violation of immigration laws a fake university was created in Metro Detroit with the name of Farmington University in January 2020. There were more than 250 students from overseas who succeeded in getting admission to that fake university and used the admission papers for getting student-visas with the help of their local travel-agents. Most of them were from India. In the wake of that Sting Operation US Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities arrested those Indian students who obtained student visas fraudulently under the pretext of attending the university. It is also a notable point that after this Sting Operation the scrutiny process for the Indian visa-aspirants to US was made very strict. The Indian government had expressed strong resentment over this action of the US government. Same has been the expression of the Canadian authorities that have time and again expressed their displeasure over the ‘lawlessness and ill behaviour of the Indian students’. They are of the opinion that the ‘Canadian public at large is terrorized by the ill behaving Indian students who carry out gangster like acts as frequently done in Indian Universities or Indian public places.’
This terror-patronizing behaviour has become the official policy of the Modi government in India. It is not the Indian people but the government of India responsible for distorting the image of the whole Indian nation throughout the world. The most unfortunate is the fact that no expression of resentment or displeasure ever compels the Indian authorities to review this state of affairs as they have more important things to do like changing demographic status of the Jammu & Kashmir. It is the result of the stubbornness of the government of India that in this very modern world the people of the India-occupied Kashmir are living life worse than those of the animals. Be it 27 October or 5 August, for the people of the India-occupied Kashmir every day is a Black Day and every night is a Dark Night. The situation in the India- occupied Kashmir also needs some type of a Sting Operation.
—The writer is freelance columnist based in Multan.
