Turkey unhappy over growing human smuggling
LAHORE, Nov 20: The Pakistani authorities are cutting a sorry figure before the Turkish government for their failure in controlling human smuggling, it is learnt.
According to an official of the Federal Investigation Agency, the Turkish authorities have expressed displeasure over unchecked human smuggling from Pakistan and asked Islamabad to do the needful.
FIA passport cell (Gujranwala) assistant director Arif Bokhari told Dawn on Tuesday that 5,000 people had been deported from Iran, Turkey and Greece this year alone. Most of them were from Turkey.
He said of the total deported people, nearly 2,500 belonged to Gujrat, Mandi Bahauddin, Sialkot, Narowal and Hafizabad.
According to him, even high deportation rate in the recent past and record number of arrests and conviction of human smugglers have failed to leave any impact people who continue to use illegal channels for greener pastures.
He said the cell had arrested 500 suspects this year, of whom 350 were sentenced.
Bokhari admitted that there was a lot to do to control human smuggling from these areas.
Saying that Gujrat was a prime place where a number of human smugglers were operating, he suggested the establishment of a FIA cell there at the earliest.
He said the four-country (Pakistan, Iran, Turkey and Greece) working group had been meeting regularly to discuss measures adopted by them to control the menace. Mr Bokhari said the last meeting of the group was held in Turkey last month and the Turkish government had asked the Pakistani authorities to expedite their efforts to curb the illegal practice. He said the Turkish government, worried over the situation, was pondering different ways to stop illegal immigrants entry into their land. “This is one of the conditions set by the European Union for Turkish entry into the EU.”
Arif Bokhari said the deported persons claimed that they had paid between Rs250,000 and 550,000 to agents for heir travel to Turkey and Greece via Iran.
According to him, a large number of Pakistanis were languishing in Turkish jails. The Turkish government is likely to deport them after meeting legal requirements.
Since a majority of the deported are from Gujrat, Gujranwala, Mandi Bahauddin and Sialkot and their suburbs, a lot more is needed to be done by the government to arrest the trend.
The residents of these areas are usually inspired by those who have raised bungalows through foreign currency. They build huge mansions in their home towns and villages on their return, prompting the younger generation to pay handsome amount ‘willingly’ to agents to emulate them.
A source said that some agents in these areas were so powerful due to their strong political connections that the agency never dared to initiate any action against them.
Source: Dawn
Date:11/21/2007
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