FIA arrests suspected human trafficker, recovers Rs14.8 million

The Federal Investigation Agency’s Anti Human Trafficking Circle has arrested an alleged human trafficker and recovered Rs14.8 million from his possession in action taken here on Saturday.

An FIA press release said here that the suspect identified as Yasir was arrested for cheating and collecting money from innocent people for sending them abroad.

The action was taken on the complaint of a citizen, Saqib, who submitted that the fraudulent had taken a heavy amount from him to send him to a foreign country for a job and immigration. Further investigations are underway.

News Desk adds: A staggering 20,000 cases of human trafficking and domestic violence took place in the country last year and over 90 percent of the cases pertained to women and girls, a seminar was told in Islamabad last month.

The seminar was further told that women and girls were disproportionately affected by the human trafficking issue, and international estimates showed that women and girls constituted up to 80 percent of people trafficked globally and more than 60 percent of them belonged to Asia alone.

The seminar, “Together to combat trafficking of women and girls”, was organised by the UN Women Pakistan, in collaboration with National Commission on the Status of Women and Kashf Foundation.

A representative of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) told the seminar that Pakistani women were not only being trafficked from poverty-hit areas of southern Punjab and Balochistan, but also from major cities, including Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad.

He added that recently some young Pakistani women were trafficked to China on the pretext of marriage. Speakers said the issue was of great importance and it needed to be dealt with at all levels, including through more awareness among the people.

Jamshed Kazi, the country repre­sentative of the UN Women Pakistan, said Pakistan had prioritised the protection of women’s rights as human rights. He said strategies had been drawn up to combat violence against women, but there were more challenges that need to be met.

“One of these challenges is trafficking of women and girls, which rarely gets the attention it deserves. In order to successfully tackle this serious problem, we need to work towards changing social norms and behaviour in a transformative way.”