The distant shores

The very thought of being huddled together with scores of others in an airtight container, aboard a stinking fishing vessel or cargo transporter while on a seemingly endless journey – this is the stuff of nightmares for many, but that which is all too true for many labour migrants of Southasia. People continue to think themselves ready to face down the hazards of such an experience, ready to embark on a journey that has led to so many deaths. Mostly young, they appear willing to take any option, no matter how dangerous, in order to enter alien lands illegally in the quest for jobs and sustenance.

The underground illegal immigration from Southasian countries has grown remarkably in recent years. This trend has continued despite the fact that immigration and border-control authorities in the 'host' countries are regularly re-equipped with the latest gadgetry, weapons and administrative powers to crack down on racket people smuggling. Pakistan is regularly turning up some of the worst numbers, as smugglers take thousands out of the country every year into Europe via Iran, Turkey, Greece and Oman. A recent survey suggests that the majority of these illegal immigrants come from Punjab province. The going rate to smuggle one person straight to Europe is some PKR 500,000. Compared to that, Oman is a significant saving at PKR 50,000-80,000.

Once the would-be migrants cough up the money and leave Pakistan, a high-stakes game of hide-and-seek begins between the migrants, the smugglers and the authorities of the next country in the relay. Over the years, an uncounted number have lost their lives while taking part in this 'game'. At the whims of ruthless agents and under the increasingly strident eye of immigration authorities, victims fall prey to the vagaries of nature, as when severe storms hit small open vessels sailing the high seas; they can also succumb because of transport itself, with an astounding number suffocating to death in airtight containers under a blazing sun. In just one incident, 14 illegal Pakistani immigrants died in Turkey due to suffocation. Reportedly they were travelling in the back of a lorry and heading towards the Turkey-Greece border. Despite such horrific tales, siren calls of the promising shores are so enchanting that nothing can shake the resolve of the aspirants.

Previously, the job-seekers from Pakistan tended to use air routes. But with the introduction of stricter controls at airports, particularly following the attacks of 11 September 2001, and with the issuance of machine-readable passports, the chances of detection at airports have increased manifold. Fasih Malik, a travel agent based in Lahore, says that in the past, people smugglers could change photographs and thumbprints on passports with such ease that even a passport's owner could not detect the tampering. At that time, passports with valid visas could be traded for hundreds of thousands of rupees. But this is no longer possible, as an immigration official is able to access a machine-readable passport's original data with just a few computer strokes. Paradoxically, as these modern security-related changes have come about, methods of trafficking people have been forced to become incrementally more primitive, and hence dramatically more dangerous.

The heightened security situation in the West has made things significantly more dangerous for illegal immigrants caught in other countries. The reason why the immigrant leaves home and country is to find a place where he or she can earn more both personally and for dependents back home. But he can increasingly be seen as a dangerous 'terrorist', at a time when anxieties have risen that terror groups using people-smuggling routes. One need only recall the gory incident in 2002 when seven illegal migrants, six Pakistanis and one Indian, passing through Macedonia were branded as 'terrorists' by the local security forces and murdered in cold blood. It was later revealed that the Macedonian authorities had carried out these killings as a way to curry favour with a US administration intent on pushing its recently launched 'war on terror'.

Shahid's story
The situation clearly calls for a concerted effort, aimed at cracking down not on the migrants, but on the organised-crime syndicates that are involved in international human trafficking. Recently, international pressure on Pakistan has increased, with the Turkish government specifically asking Islamabad to strike at the roots of the smuggling gangs. Turkey is particularly desperate to stop illegal entry into its country, as doing so is stipulated as a prerequisite for inclusion in the European Union.

However, the situation on the ground makes it next to impossible for law-enforcement authorities to check the smuggling racket on the Pakistan-Iran border, en route to Turkey. There are several influential figures in Balochistan who actively support the people-smuggling racket, and whom few dare to challenge. As much is claimed by Muhammad Akbar Baloch, deputy director of Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), posted in the province. In September 2008, Baloch sent a report to Islamabad stating that many transporters were engaged in ferrying Pakistani and Afghan nationals to the Pakistan-Iran border, and that Baloch government officials were at hand to demand release when there was an interdiction.

In the past, Pakistani immigrants generally tended to move through other routes, particularly heading to Sri Lanka en route to Italy. In recent years, however, Iran has become almost the exclusive jumping-off point, and have the importance of neighbouring Balochistan. FIA Director Ahsan Shujaat Ali says that in 2008 alone, his agency intercepted more than 8000 people trying to illegally enter Iran.

One who made it significantly farther than the Iranian border was Shahid Ali, who managed to make it all the way to Turkey before being caught and recently being deported back to Pakistan. He says that he actually had a valid visa for travel to Iran, but that his own agent took his passport and ripped it up. This, he says, is done to conceal the identity of the victims from border authorities of the countries through which they travel. Shahid crossed into Iran through the small Balochistan town of Taftan, a point from where a significant percent of Pakistan's human trafficking is thought to be carried out.

Shahid's story is typical. His family needed cash income, also expenses that will be incurred by the marriages of his three sisters. Both his father and mother are ill, and the former is at risk of losing his job. Shahid says that he paid PKR 200,000 to his agent in advance, with the remainder to be paid on arrival in Greece. He was caught when he was trying to cross from Turkey into Greece in the night, by Turkish border authorities wearing night-vision devices.

Following his deportation, Shahid is dejected, as is his family. But their grief is nothing compared to that of the family of Khurram Shahzad, 21, from Sialkot District in Punjab. Khurram left his home on 16 June 2008, headed for Europe after making the acquaintance of an agent named Abid Cheema. His family was expecting to receive a phone call from Europe; instead, they were informed that Khurram had died of suffocation. He, along with 12 other boys, had been stuffed inside a cargo container, which was supposed to take them to Istanbul from the coast along the Turkey-Iran border.

It may seem strange that, despite widespread knowledge of such terrible endings, Pakistani youths continue to take such extreme chances. But FIA authorities say that such dangerous methods will continue to attract those who are simply not wealthy enough to get legitimate visas. FIA officers report that many young men say that, if they had not been able to travel out of Pakistan, they could have ended up committing suicide. Some who are returned to Pakistan after being caught inside a container or at a lonely border point will thank providence for being alive and settle down to pursue their lives in Pakistan. Others will simply turn around, contact an agent and try again and again.

~ Shahzada Irfan Ahmed lives in Lahore and works for The News on Sunday.