Sinking dreams – Newspaper – DAWN.COM

OVER the past few years, several tragic incidents have occurred involving boats carrying Pakistani migrants attempting to reach Europe through irregular channels.

On June 14, 2023, the Adriana, an overcrowded fishing trawler, capsized and sank off the coast of Greece. The vessel carried an estimated 750 migrants, including about 350 Pakistanis. Of the 104 survivors, only 12 were from Pakistan. Over 500 individuals died, making it one of the deadliest shipwrecks in the Mediterranean. The then PDM government sprang into action and asked the then DG National Police Bureau (NPB), Ehsan Sadiq, who had earlier served as additional DG FIA, to submit recommendations to combat the smuggling of migrants.

According to a report released last year by the National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR), Pakistan climbed to fifth position among the countries accounting for the most illegal immigrants to Europe. The report contained chilling data: nearly 40 per cent of Pakistanis wanted to leave due mainly to economic woes, political uncertainty, lack of employment and educational opportunities, inflation, and terrorism. In 2022, 8,778 Pakistanis crossed into Europe illegally. In 2023, 13,000 reached Europe; 10,000 did not return.

Moreover, Pakistanis lodged 28,000 applications for international protection in European Union countries from October 2023 to October 2024, the EU’s Agency for Asylum said in a country-specific report. The preferred options for Pakistani asylum seekers were Italy, France, Greece, and Germany. About 12pc of applicants were granted refugee status or subsidiary protection.

According to another report, as many as 7.3 million Pakistani nationals have left for greener pastures in the last 10 years. Around 3.8m left during the PML-N government’s tenure (2013 to 2018), 1.3m during the PTI government (2018 to 2022), and 2.08m during the PDM government (2022 to 2023), while 0.38m have left since the present government took over in 2024.

A gruesome fate awaits the desperate migrants who take huge risks by undertaking journeys by road through the Pak-Iran border, enter Turkey, and then reach Greece; or those who fly to Egypt, Dubai, Libya, Morocco or other West African destinations on visit visas and from there rely on organised criminal networks to transport them to European countries like Italy, Greece, and Spain. In January 2024, a boat carrying 80 passengers, including Pakistanis, capsized near the Moroccan-controlled port city of Dakhla while en route to the Canary Islands. More than 40 Pakistanis were feared drowned.

Two recent incidents are chilling reminders that the migrants are still willing to take deadly risks to reach European shores. In January 2025, again off the coast of West Africa, a boat carrying 86 migrants, mostly Pakistanis, en route to the Canary Islands, encountered difficulties during a 13-day journey. Almost 50 individuals perished while 36 were rescued.

The latest incident occurred last month off the coast of Libya, when a vessel carrying 65 Europe-bound migrants capsized, with the dreams of 16 Pakistanis turning into tragedy. These incidents underscore the extreme risks associated with irregular migration routes and highlight the urgent need for comprehensive measures to address the issue of human trafficking and ensure safer migration pathways.

The proposed measures to combat migrant smuggling are sound, but will they be implemented?

After the Greek boat tragedy, the then DG NPB submitted 27 key recommendations to the prime minister on Aug 4, 2023. Here are some of the salient points. A national action plan against human smugglers and their collaborators entailed seizure of all assets and instrumentalities used to commit crimes under the relevant provisions of the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA), 2010. All 30 identified absconding smugglers living abroad were to be brought back through Interpol to face trial. Similarly, all such agents and smugglers against whom multiple FIRs were registered were to be placed on the PNIL (Provisional National Identification List), ECL, and Red Book — the most wanted fugitive human smugglers with reward money on arrest.

Strict accountability was required against FIA immigration officials posted at the Karachi, Sialkot, and Multan airports, from where the boat tragedy passengers had taken off for Libya on visit visas. Action was recommended against officials of the FIA’s anti-human trafficking circles in Lahore, Gujrat, Gujranwala, Multan, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Mardan, and Peshawar, where human smugglers were actively involved in arranging visit visas for Europe-bound migrants.

Certain stringent legal measures were recommended by making amendments to the Smuggling of Migrants Act, 2018, such as inbuilt provisions for tracing, freezing and forfeiture of assets owned and controlled by human smugglers. A Human Smuggler’s Watch List to identify members of organised human smuggling networks was to be launched. Repeat offenders were not to be treated as victims but prosecuted under the Emigration Ordinance and the AMLA. A special monitoring and due diligence regime was needed at airports for stringent screening of passengers travelling to Libya, Morocco, Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Malaysia, Nigeria and other destinations in West Africa. To enhance international coordination, the UN Protocol on Smuggling of Migrants was recommended for ratification.

This excellent report remained largely unimplemented during the latter half of 2023 and the whole of 2024, as the political clime after the 2024 polls remained unstable. The ruling coalition lacked the political will to focus attention on combating organised crimes like human trafficking, smuggling of migrants, terrorism, etc. The prime minister finally addressed the issue of smuggling of migrants on Dec 27, 2024, and appointed a task force comprising the ministries of interior, law, foreign affairs, and information, with the DG FIA and chairman AML Authority as members. Stringent efficiency and disciplinary rules have been suggested for the FIA, and the creation of a dedicated immigration wing with mechanisms for specialised training, screening, retention, and rotation. The chairman AMLA was asked to audit the FIA’s human smuggling-related performance. A committee under the DG NPB was constituted to conduct an annual external audit of FIA. Will these measures be implemented?

The only outcome was the transfer of the DG FIA. This important post is vacant weeks since the former DG was made a scapegoat. The political bosses could have promptly posted a senior police officer of impeccable credentials; there are still some honourable ones in the service. But if the intentions are dubious and the deep state’s nod is needed in the selection of the FIA chief, then God save us from such machinations.

The writer is former DG FIA.

Published in Dawn, March 7th, 2025