ISLAMABAD: A day after the tragic killing of 15 illegal immigrants -- headed for Europe -- in Balochistan, a key government agency dealing with the issue claims that the human smuggling has significantly declined in the country this year. Experts believe Wednesday's incident has once again highlighted Pakistan’s vulnerability as one of the top sources of human smuggling in the world. The US State Department’s trafficking in Person Report issued in June this year also places Pakistan in tier 2 watch list, a category reserved for countries which fail to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat severe forms of trafficking in persons from the previous year. While the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Thursday arrested three persons in Gujranwala in connection with human smuggling of 15 victims of Balochistan massacre, a senior official of the agency told The News that the unfortunate incident could not be linked to the issues of trafficking as “the victims were sadly caught at a wrong place at a wrong time.” “The incident of Balochistan is an act of international terrorism which could not be linked with human smuggling which is on decline in Pakistan,” says FIA’s Director Immigration Tariq Malik who oversees the agency’s operation against human smuggling and trafficking in person. His subordinate Khalid Anis, who heads FIA’s Gujranwala office, informed The News that 10 out of 15 victims were residents of Gujranwala while one hailed from Rawalpindi and four are still unidentified. Khalid added that FIA has registered three cases in connection with Wednesday’s incidents. He claimed that FIA has nabbed 326 land route agents this year for helping illegal immigrants cross the border with Iran for their ultimate entry into Europe. “The human smuggling has significantly decreased in Pakistan this year. There are several factors contributing to this decline including strict law enforcement by Pakistani authorities, less incentive for smugglers owing to stringent measures by European countries and improved international coordination to combat the issue,” Malik said. He said around 400 proclaimed offenders involved in the crime have been arrested this year along with other measures to overcome the problem. The agency, he said, has prosecuted about 2,000 people last year for their alleged involvement in this heinous crime. However, he admitted that human smuggling is still going on in the country especially through porous Balochistan border which is being managed by various government institutions. “There is only one FIA check post on Iran border while rest of the area is managed by other law enforcement agencies which are doing their best to prevent human smuggling but still it is not an easy job as the long porous border is hard to manage,” he said. The FIA, he said, is taking preventive measures to raise awareness among people about threats involved in illegal migration. But there are social and economic aspects of this phenomenon as most of the victims of human smuggling are not forced to take the risk. “We are developing an inter-agency task force in Balochistan involving police, Frontier Constabulary (FC) and Levies to prevent the smugglers from using the land route,” he said. The FIA top official claimed that human smuggling through air routes has been made extremely difficult as the agency officials strictly check each of about 18 million passengers who use air-transport to fly out of Pakistan. He said human trafficking and smuggling is international crime but the FIA is facing challenges owing to lack of resources. The Agency, he said, has sent a proposal to the government for permission to open an office in Istanbul, Turkey to be able to collect first-hand information about human smugglers who victimise Pakistanis. To a question about involvement of FIA officials in facilitating human traffickers, Malik admitted that the Agency has its shortcomings but claimed that the Agency has introduced a strong mechanism of accountability under its new Director General Bashir Memon who enjoys a good repute among civil servants. Pakistan journalists were told at a recent training on trafficking in human beings organised by International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) in Baku, Azerbaijan that the country is a major source, transit and destination of for human trafficking. In its annual report for 2017, the US State Department placed the country in tier 2 watch list for the fourth consecutive year. According to the report, tier 2 watch list is for countries whose governments do not fully meet the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPAs) minimum standards, but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards and the absolute number of victims of severe forms of trafficking is very significant or is significantly increasing. The watch list also indicates a failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat severe forms of trafficking in persons from the previous year; or the determination that a country is making significant efforts to bring itself into compliance with minimum standards was based on commitments by the country to take additional future steps over the next year.
