AS memories were still fresh about a boat tragedy in Greece involving loss of precious Pakistani lives, the Foreign Office (FO) said on Thursday that another boat carrying 80 passengers capsized near Morocco, with over 40 Pakistanis reportedly among the dead. Migrant rights group Walking Borders said as many as 50 migrants may have drowned in the latest deadly wreck involving people trying to make the crossing from West Africa to Spain’s Canary Islands.
The latest tragedy confirms the vicious cycle of human smuggling and trafficking is continuing and the crackdown of the government against this mafia is not producing the desired results. The latest incident calls for emergent measures to protect lives and hard earned savings of innocent people who are lured by gangs in the name of provision of employment abroad. The FO said its Crisis Management Unit was activated and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar instructed government agencies to extend all possible facilitation to the affected Pakistanis and their families. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif sought a report on the incident from authorities and said strict action would be taken against those involved in the heinous act of human trafficking. Similarly, President Asif Ali Zardari also expressed grief on the deaths of over 40 Pakistanis and stressed the need for effective and far-reaching measures to prevent human trafficking. However, the question arises as to why no tangible measures were taken to avoid this tragedy when advance warning was issued to all concerned countries by the NGO as well as the maritime rescue service of Spain regarding a missing boat. It is also a matter of concern that Pakistani nationals are almost always there whenever any boat or ship sinks, which means the Pakistani network of smugglers and traffickers is very active, requiring an elaborate strategy to deal with them sternly in close coordination with the relevant agencies of the relevant countries. The risk can be reduced if there is greater vigilance and coordination of Pakistani missions abroad with local authorities. And more important is initiation of legal and administrative actions against unscrupulous recruiting agents, who play with the lives of the people for the sake of money.
