• PM forms high-level body to trace traffickers who sent migrants to Greece, seeks report in one week
• Survivor says ‘stranded’ trawler sank after smaller boat tried to tow it
• FIA says victims’ families reluctant to approach them, will proceed against traffickers on its own
• AJK police detain 10 ‘sub-agents’ as Kotli loses dozens to tragedy

GUJRAT/MUZAF­FARABAD: As families of victims of the migrant boat tragedy that unfolded off the Greek coast struggle to come to terms with the reality that their loved ones may not return, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday announced a high-level investigation to trace the human traffickers behind the incident and declared a national day of mourning today (Monday).

The pain of these families is being aggravated by ‘illegal agents’, who have been claiming that their relatives are, in fact, alive, without providing any evidence to corroborate their claims.

According to family members Dawn spoke to, these traffickers charged more than Rs2 million from each individual in return for their illegal passage to Europe.

At least 400 Pakistanis, 200 Egyptians and 150 Syrians, including around two dozen Syrian women and young children, were travelling on the trawler, according to the initial information shared by survivors of the shipwreck.

More than 100 people lost their lives and hundreds remain missing after the ship sank off the coast of Greece on Wednesday.

Missing migrants

After the tragic accident, 27-year-old Kashif, who had left Sialkot about a month ago for Italy after paying more than Rs2.3 million to an agent, lost contact with his family. Around the same time, the agent also went off the grid.

The young man’s father said that the agent had called him a few days ago, congratulating him that his son was about to reach his destination. “But the agent, based in Kotli Noshehran of Daska, has since disappeared and his phone is also powered off,” Muhammad Mukhtar Butt told Dawn.

A similar fate is shared by six friends from Panduri Kalan, a village near Wazirabad. Their families say they have not had any contact for the last 10 days. They left for Italy from Libya, paying Rs2.5m each to a local agent. Eight days ago, the agent reportedly congratulated their families that their loved ones had reached their destination. But now, there was only silence.

“Ironically, the heirs of boat tragedy victims have still been hoping for the safe return of their loved ones, as several human traffickers are trying to satisfy them that their loved ones were not travelling on the boat and would come into contact with their families soon,” an FIA official told Dawn.

Since the identification process was still underway amid a state of uncertainty, the heirs were inclined to believe in the claims of traffickers, the official added.

Tales of survivors

As of now, 12 Pakistanis – five from Gujrat and Mandi Bahauddin and Gujrat and three to four from to Sialkot– are among the survivors who have narrated harrowing tales to the media from a relief camp in Greece. Most of the Pakistanis primarily belonged to these rural areas of central Punjab and Kotli in Azad Kashmir.

From Punjab, a majority belonged to Goleki village in Gujrat and Sialkot’s Jamke Cheema village, as unconfirmed reports suggested that at least 200 people hailing from Gujrat and Mandi Bahauddin were on the boat.

Usman, a resident of Kaleki, was among the lucky ones who managed to survive. He contacted his family from a camp in Greece and narrated the entire ordeal.

As per the account shared by his family, the boat had run out of fresh water and had been drifting for five days. “A cargo ship dropped some bottles of water to people on the boat after appeals,” his family said, adding that the ship started to crumble after a smaller boat tried to tow it in an attempt at rescue.

A helicopter also reached the spot, but people were already drowning. “My training as a policeman came in handy and I managed to save myself,” Usman told his family.

Family sources of most of the victims belonging to Gujrat, Sialkot and Mandi Bahauddin districts said that they had paid at least Rs2.5 million to secure passage to Italy.

Meanwhile, the FIA was approached by the brother of a survivor in Gujrat who had lodged a complaint against an alleged agent, who is not in Pakistan like many other traffickers.

FIA officials claimed that heirs were reluctant to file complaints against traffickers, citing it as a reason for a lack of progress.

Acting Deputy Director Mian Ajmal told Dawn that the FIA would lodge cases on the complaint of its own officials against those involved in human smuggling.

PM forms committee

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif formed a committee for a probe into the trafficking, as he declared mourning on account of the boat tragedy.

“Tomorrow, the national flag will fly on half-mast and special prayers would be offered for the deceased,” a press release issued by the PM’s Office said. The four-member committee would submit a report in a week. “The number of casualties is being still ascertained,” the statement said.

The inquiry committee would ascertain facts of the boat tragedy and identify loopholes in the enforcement mechanism that exposed Pakistanis to the “vagaries of human trafficking in this particular case”.

The body would also focus on international coordination to prevent and penalise human smuggling and would prepare “short-and long-term recommendations” to apprehend culprits.

10 sub-agents arrested

Separately, the AJK police arrested 10 ‘sub-agents’ in connection with the tragedy in which at least 21 residents of the Kotli district lost their lives. Kotli SSP Muhammad Riaz Mughal told Dawn the suspects were either “sub-agents” or “agents” of Chaudhry Zulqernain, Talat Kiani, Khalid Mirza, and Sajid Mehmood — major human traffickers. The first three belonged to Kotli and Mirpur and were based in Libya while the fourth belonged to Gujrat and was arrested by the FIA on Saturday, he added.

During the preliminary interrogation, the suspects made shocking disclosures, including the names of traffickers and their modus operandi.

The police said as per the information obtained from ‘sub-agents’, aspirants were “legally flown” to the UAE, Egypt, and Libya from where they would embark on the dangerous voyage.

One of the detainees, Mehboob Shafi, who worked for Mr Zulqernain, informed the police that his own son Sunil Mehboob was also on the vessel and his whereabouts were unknown, the SSP said, adding, another detained suspect had sent off three victims through his ‘network’.

The information divulged by suspects revealed that seven Pakistani citizens who had tried to reach Europe during an earlier attempt were languishing in a Libyan jail.

Akram Malik from Gujranwala also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, June 19th, 2023