The killing of 20 people – believed to be migrants trying to make their way to Europe through Iran – in Turbat last Wednesday has brought renewed focus to the problem of human smuggling. Ten men suspected of human smuggling have been arrested in connection with the killings and the Supreme Court has taken suo motu notice of the case. While the FIA insists that it has made progress in the fight against human smuggling, there is little evidence to believe this is the case. The UN believes that human smuggling is close to a billion dollar industry in Pakistan and that the number is rising every year. The US has repeatedly criticised Pakistan for not meeting the bare minimum standards to prevent human smuggling and trafficking. Part of the problem is that of enforcing the law. More than 80 percent of those who are arrested for smuggling end up settling their cases with those they were trying to smuggle. There has been speculation that the authorities are either paid off or working in cahoots with smugglers and traffickers. Even if that is not the case, they certainly haven’t made any effort to check the growing tide of smuggling. There are three main types of human smuggling and trafficking and all of them require different approaches. There is child smuggling, where minors are sent to foreign countries, particularly in the Middle East, where they are sold as bonded labour. To tackle this would need us to both identify smuggling agents at home and cooperate with foreign states to ensure they are not turning a blind eye to the problem. The other main form of smuggling is the organ trade, where promises of wealth are made and unsuspecting people are sent to foreign countries to have their organs removed. Finally, there are those who just want a better live. From minority communities that are actively persecuted here to those in the war-ravaged areas of Fata, unscrupulous traffickers take huge amounts of money from them with promises of freedom in a new land. What usually ends up happening is that hundreds of people are crammed into a tiny boat. At least 300 Pakistanis have died while trying to escape but there is no sign of any operation against those who put them on the boats in the first place. We have all the laws in place to be able to tackle the human smuggling problem; all that is needed is the will to root out this growing problem.
