PM orders to intensify crackdown against human smugglers

Shehbaz proclaims day of mourning immediately over demise of Pakistanis in Greece shipwreck tragedy n Types four-member staff to probe human trafficking, inflicting deaths of Pak nationals n Out of 104 rescued passengers 43 Egyptians, 47 Syrians, 12 Pakistanis and two Palestinians.

ISLAMABAD  –  Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has introduced the observance of a day of mourning immediately over the demise of Pakistani nationals after a ship carrying migrants sank off the coast of Greece on June 14. “Tomorrow, the nation­al flag will fly on half-mast and particular prayers could be supplied for the deceased,” PM Workplace Me­dia Wing mentioned in a press state­ment issued right here yesterday.

The PM additionally directed for maintain­ing of an inquiry into the hu­man trafficking that led to the tragic incident of migrants ship­wreck and ordered an immedi­ate crackdown in opposition to brokers in­volved within the heinous crime of human trafficking and referred to as for bringing them to justice.

Furthermore, the prime minis­ter constituted a four-member high-level committee to investi­gate the tragic incident.

In accordance with a notification is­sued by the PM Workplace, the com­mittee will comprise Director Common Nationwide Police Bureau Ehsan Sadiq as Chairman in addition to Extra Secretary (Afri­ca) Ministry of Overseas Affairs Javed Ahmed Umrani, Deputy Inspector Common Police Poonch Area of AJK, Sardar Zaheer Ahemed, and Joint Secretary Federal Investigation Company Faisal Nisar Chaudhry. 

The committee shall submit its report inside one week.

The committee will confirm info of the Greece boat tragedy, to id loopholes and laps­es within the authorized and enforcement mechanism in Pakistan that ex­posed valuable human lives to the vagaries of human traffick­ing on this explicit case and related incidents prior to now.

It should additionally analyze related previous incidents and motion taken. The discussion board can even take inventory of the present authorized framework, en­forcement measures within the coun­attempt to the worldwide coordi­nation to forestall, management and punish human smuggling and to arrange brief and long-term recom­mendations, together with laws, en­forcement measures, consciousness cam­paign and enchancment of nationwide and worldwide coordination to appre­hend brokers, facilitators, masterminds and rackets and for the eradication of the menace of human trafficking.

The prime minister mentioned all the nation together with him shared their sympathies with the bereaved fami­lies. He additionally directed the officers of the Pakistan embassy in Greece to take care of 12 Pakistanis rescued from the scene of the catastrophe.

He additionally directed for taking fur­ther stringent motion in opposition to the ele­ments concerned in human trafficking, apart from asking the legislation enforcement companies for the identification of such traffickers who had been duping peo­ple to undertake such perilous steps.

Upon the directive of the prime minister, Federal Investigation Agen­cy (FIA) had deputed DIG Alam Shin­wari as a focal particular person to facilitate in­formation relating to those that misplaced lives within the incident and others who had been injured. Equally, the AJK chief secretary had additionally tasked a focal per­son to contact the Pakistan embassy and Greek authorities in Greece re­garding the most recent data over the casualties and accidents.

In accordance with contemporary stories, at the least 78 folks died after the overcrowd­ed vessel went down on Wednesday. A complete of 104 passengers had been rescued and despatched to Kalamata, Greece. The peo­ple rescued to this point included 43 Egyp­tian nationals, 47 Syrian nationals, 12 Pakistani nationals, and two Palestin­ians, the Hellenic Coast Guard had been quoted by worldwide media shops. Eight of these rescued had been minors.

In the meantime, the AJK police arrest­ed 10 “sub-agents” allegedly concerned within the smuggling of individuals to Eu­rope by way of the Center East and Africa, together with those that died within the re­cent Greece boat tragedy. In accordance with Kotli SSP Muhammad Riaz Mughal 21 folks from AJK had been aboard the ship and had been lacking.

He mentioned 19 of those folks be­longed to Khuiratta and the stay­ing hailed from neighbouring Char­hoi. SSP Mughal revealed that as many as 10 “sub-agents” had been arrest­ed in AJK over the past 24 hours.

Mughal mentioned the suspects had been booked below sections 418 (cheat­ing with the data that mistaken­ful loss could ensue to an individual whose curiosity offender is certain to professional­tect), 419 (punishment for dishonest by impersonation), 420 (dishonest and dishonestly inducing supply of property), and 322 (punishment for homicide) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

“They had been sub-agents or brokers of primary human traffickers Chaudhry Zulqarnain, Talat Kiani, and Khalid Mirza, who belong to Kotli and Mir­pur and are based mostly in Libya.