At least 15 human traffickers – including the prime suspect – have been arrested so far during the ongoing countrywide crackdown linked with the migrant boat tragedy off the coast of Greece, authorities told a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday.
Chairing the high-level huddle regarding human smuggling and the recent capsizing of a boat
in the Mediterranean near Greece, the premier directed the authorities concerned to bring the responsible for human trafficking to book at the earliest.
Authorities in Europe still have no
clear idea how many people were aboard the ill-fated boat when it sank last week – estimates range from 400 to over 700 – but likely hundreds came from Pakistan, and many from Azad Jammu Kashmir (AJK).
The United Nations Human Rights office said in a statement on Sunday that at least 500 people were still missing and that dozens of people were known to
have perished. A good number of women and children were among the missing persons
in the “horrific tragedy”. The ferry boat was carrying up to 750 people that went down 50 nautical miles off Pylos in southern Greece, it further said.
During the meeting, PM Shehbaz expressed resentm
ent over not taking timely action to check human smuggling and taking concrete steps despite the repetition of such incidents.
He directed Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah to supervise the investigation process and formulate recommendations related to the necessary legislation to prevent human trafficking. The prime minister also ordered the investigation committee to submit the report after completing it at the earliest.
The meeting was informed that ten FIRs had been registered after the incident. It was further briefed that 104 people including 12 Pakistanis had been rescued, while 74 bodies had been recovered. The premier also directed the relevant institutions to be in constant contact with the families of the victims, while the Pakistani embassy in Greece was further instructed to stay in touch with the Greece authorities regarding the incident.
Earlier
in the day, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) apprehended two alleged human traffickers from Gujranwala linked with the migrant boat tragedy off the coast of Libya in February this year.
The development came after the FIA expanded the scope of its investigation into the recent Greece shipwreck incident and formed teams in major cities to bring the human traffickers to justice.
Meanwhile, the FIA obtained DNA sam
ples from the families of 126 missing victims of the Greece boat tragedy. Samples were submitted by the relatives of 52 victims in FIA Gujarat Circle and 46 affected families in Gujranwala Circle. Blood samples were also obtained from the relatives of 28 people of Kotli Azad Kashmir.
