Pakistan Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Sunday announced a high-level probe to trace the human traffickers behind the Greece boat tragedy that led to the death of hundreds of civilians in the Mediterranean Sea. Till now, at least 10 sub-agents responsible for human trafficking were arrested from several places in Pakistan.
At least 400 Pakistanis, 200 Egyptians and 150 Syrians, including about two dozen Syrian women and young children, were traveling on the trawler, according to a report in the local English daily, Dawn.
Although there was no official confirmation from the Greek administration or from Pakistan whether the missing 500 expatriates are dead or still alive, several media reported that the citizens of Islamabad were killed considering the fact that the crash happened almost four days ago. and none of them contacted or made distress calls.
The country is in mourning due to the missing of hundreds of people in the boat accident.
As the incident highlighted the dire situation of citizens in the cash-strapped nation, PM Sharif set up a committee to probe the smuggling as he declared mourning due to the boat tragedy.
“Tomorrow, the national flag will fly at half-mast and special prayers will be offered for the dead,” Dawn said, quoting a press release issued by the Prime Minister’s Office. The four-member committee will submit a report in a week. The number of casualties is being ascertained.
10 agents/sub-agents arrested
The probe committee will ascertain the facts of the boat tragedy and identify lapses in the enforcement mechanism that exposed Pakistanis to “the craze of human trafficking in this particular case”.
Those arrested on Sunday include “sub-agents” or “agents” of prominent human trafficker Chaudhary Zulqarnain, Talat Kiyani, Khalid Mirza and Sajid Mehmood.
As per the report, during preliminary interrogation, the suspects made shocking revelations including the names of the smugglers and their modus operandi. Police said that according to information received from ‘sub-agents’, the candidates were “legally airlifted to the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Libya, from where they would begin the perilous journey, Pakistani media reported.