KARACHI, Nov 19: Unlike his 10 companions, Syed Qazzafi Hussain considers himself fortunate to have made it back to his homeland after being arrested at the Turkish border and subsequently being released.

Qazzafi was among a group of 11 economic migrants who were trying to reach Greece illegally after being lured by a human smuggler selling dreams of a good life. However, they were arrested at the Iran-Turkey border.

Having spent eight years in Malaysia, legally employed at a carpet company, Qazzafi Hussian bribed his way out of the clutches of the Turkish border security force, who allowed him to slip back into Iran after pocketing $3,000 Qazzafi offered them for his release. They were considerate enough to give him $125 for his return journey, Qazzafi told Dawn.

Recalling the moments of his arrest and subsequent release, Qazzafi broke into tears as he narrated how he and his fellow migrants walked for kilometres, ducking at places to evade night-vision apparatuses of the border security force with bullets flying past them in the darkness of the night before being arrested.

“You can imagine the rattle of gunfire in the border area. It sent shivers down our spines, making us tremble with fear,” Qazzafi recalled.

Narrating his story, he said he had worked in Malaysia from 1997 to 2005, when the October earthquake killed his father in his native village of Piran Khairabad in Hazara Division.

He returned to his native town taking leave for three months from his employer, but could not make it back in time and lost the job.

Speaking about his introduction to agent Zubair, Qazzafi said Shazad Khan, who had worked with him in Malaysia, took him to Zubair. A resident of Jalalpur Jatan, some 12 kilometres from Gujrat, Zubair held a meeting with Qazzafi in Hotel Galaxy in Sialkot.

Explaining his professional skills, Zubair told him that he had sent 500 to 600 people to Athens, Greece. And he would charge between Rs500,000 and Rs300,000 in advance and the remaining amount was payable after reaching the destination through a guarantor of the would-be migrant.

It was October 25, when Qazzafi left his home in Piran Khairabad for Lahore. It was in Lahore that all would-be migrants gathered and started their onward journey, which took them through Multan, Dera Ghazi Khan, Sibi and Quetta.

The journey started in a joyous mood and the would-be migrants sang and laughed in the initial phase of the long journey. None of them, except Qazzafi, had a passport. He had his passport with his Malaysia visa. He carried it in the hope that it might help him find a job in Athens.

Their agent, Zubair, instructed them not to wear trousers and shirts in Balochistan, where they were supposed to wear shalwar-kameez only.

Qazzafi recalled that before crossing over into Iran, the attitude of the agent was good, but when they crossed over into Iran, his attitude dramatically changed and started hurling abuses at the slightest provocation. Before reaching the Pakistan-Iran border, they stopped at a small village, a few kilometres from Taftan, from where they started walking. It was about two to three kilometres from the Taftan border, where the group of 11 migrants crossed over into Iran.

Before the stage of border crossing, agent Zubair went ahead of them saying that he would meet them on the other side, Qazzafi recalled.

After crossing the border into Iran, the migrants were taken to a house in Sistan province, not in a group but separately. It was in the house that they changed their clothes and started their onward journey to Tehran in a van.

Qazzafi chose to hire a room in Abbas hotel, detaching from the group. However, his agent strictly told him not to venture out into the streets alone.

Ignoring the agent’s warning, Qazzafi went out and met some Pakistanis. They told him some terrible tales about the borders, saying that the Turkish–Greece border was the most dangerous border and human bones and skeletons could be seen lying in ditches.

Hearing such tales, Qazzafi became scared and asked his agent to tell him the truth. But the agent rejected the stories as mere fiction.

Qazzafi’s associate Arif tried to pacify him in their onward journey. About a dozen kilometres before the Iran–Turkey border, they disembarked from the bus, and agent Zubair briefed them on how to behave during the journey.

“In case the border security force opens fire on you, start running and don’t stop,” Qazzafi quoted Zubair as telling the group.

Zubair disappeared from the scene saying that he would meet them on the other side of the border. “We crawled and ducked while walking for six to seven kilometres when firing started. We just froze in our positions and were arrested by the Turkish authorities,” Qazzafi said. “All of us were taken to a container-like room, where we were beaten up with plastic pipes. I begged for mercy and showed them the scars from a recent ulcer operation. Seeing the scars, I was spared the hiding. Later I offered money to one of the officers for my release.”

They gave him $125 for his homeward journey and allowed him to slip back into Iran. He recalled the cold weather, and said: “It was freezing. The cold seemed to be penetrating the bones, making me shiver uncontrollably despite the fact that I wore a very warm jacket”.

Walking for hours upon hours, he reached a road and continued walking until he saw a lorry approaching. He waved and the driver stopped the vehicle at a few paces from him. Qazzafi ran towards the truck and a conversation which none of them understood started. The driver didn’t understand English and Qazzafi didn’t know what he was saying in Persian. Anyhow, he took Qazzafi along and dropped him at a small village after several hours’ drive, without charging anything for the lift.

Subsequently, Qazzafi reached Tehran taking a bus and posing as a dumb person. Finally, on the third day he reached the province of Sistan and met some Pakistanis, who told him that he could not cross over the border now as stricter measures had been introduced at the border. He was advised to take a sea route, which he did with the help of some people. Qazzafi described them as Africans (Shidis). The deal was struck for $60, but they overcharged him and he was dropped somewhere near Gwadar. With the help of a nomad, he reached Gwadar city, but could not change the dollars into the local currency despite efforts.

Qazzafi took a Karachi-bound bus and reached Hub in the early morning of November 18. He had never been to Karachi before. He tried to ask the direction of Karachi from some people in Hub, without telling them his story. However, they became suspicious and asked him where he had come from.

He narrated his story to them. Hearing of his ordeal, they advised him to go to the Ansar Burney Trust office situated in front of the Civil Hospital. It was on Tuesday morning when a dust-covered Qazzafi Hussain arrived at the Trust.

Talking to Dawn, Qazzafi said he had slept for a few hours and taken a meal. But during his conversation, he broke into tears intermittently as he recalled his distress.

Qazzafi was repentant about his decision to take such a long journey and cursed the moment when he got trapped by the agent. “I could have started a business with the saving I had,” Qazzafi said. However, he didn’t have any remorse about giving the $3,000 to the Turkish security men. In fact, he thought the cash gave him a new lease of life.

Unlike Syed Qazzafi Hussain, the 10 illegal migrants are mere ‘statistics’ described as Pakistanis, believed to be languishing in some Turkish jail.