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| April 13, 2003 | Sunday | Safar 10, 1424 |
An obsession with going abroad
SIALKOT, April 12: Large-scale deportation by the US and other European countries has hardly proved a threat to the locals, who still dream of going abroad at every cost.
Sialkot, according to Pakistani embassy in the US, is among the top districts in the country from where people use illegal channels to go abroad. An embassy official, who accompanied those Pakistanis deported from the US last month, has demanded clampdown on human smugglers operating in Sialkot, Gujrat, Gujranwala, Mandi Bahauddin and Jhelum.
Punjab Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi and PML-Q leader Chaudhry Shujaat Husain had pledged action (against the smugglers) during a ceremony in Lahore where they gave financial aid to the heir of the six Pakistanis who were slain in Macedonia.
Interviewing retired officials of customs and immigration departments, Dawn learnt that hundreds of people, most of them youth, are not afraid of using illegal channels to go abroad.
Requesting anonymity, they said, unemployment in the country had frustrated the youth, and they dreamt of making fortunes by going to the foreign countries. The youth were even ready to use illegal means to earn some bucks fast, they added.
Some unemployed youth told this correspondent that they would not hesitate using unfair means to go to Europe. They said the legal process (of going abroad) was cumbersome, and it forced people to go for shortcuts. They believed that Europe was still a golden sparrow.
According to these aspirants, strict implementation of the immigration laws by the local officials was due to the rising rates charged by the agents, who got handsome amounts to send the people to the European countries.
The survey also revealed that the agents and their men played an important role in sending the people to the countries of their choice, taking advantage of their ignorance to the immigration laws. These agents are doing a roaring business in and around the regional passport office, courts, hotels, registration office and in various travel agencies.
The aspirants also said the authorities concerned, despite making tall claims of cracking down on these agents and touts, had failed to eradicate the menace.
Some seasoned agents-cum-touts, who requested not to be named, told this correspondent that they felt no pricking of conscience in doing what they said the most successful business (illegally sending people abroad). They added that they were satisfied with their job, the purpose of which was to facilitate people adopt the right path. However, they claimed that the presence of many ‘black sheep’ in the field was bringing a bad name to the business. The agents said they wanted accountability of such people.
Being an export-oriented district, they said Sialkot offered an ideal opportunity to the people involved in this business. They added that people’s passion for going abroad was not dwindling.
According to some travel agents, the officials of the Sialkot regional passport office, several local industrialists and exporters are directly or indirectly involved in this business. Sialkot regional passport office employees deny the allegations.
The agents said some Pakistani and multinational courier companies also provided ‘shelter’ to the agents in the name of visa drop-box facilities. They said students, in many cases, had reached the European countries through Cyprus, where they got admissions to colleges and universities. It required Rs200,000 to Rs250,000 to reach Cyprus through these agents.
The agents have fixed (for each person) Rs800,000 to Rs1 million for the US, Rs700,000 to Rs800,000 for the UK and Rs600,000 to Rs700,000 for Australia, Greece, Spain, Canada and Italy. But these agents minced no words in saying that illegal entries into the foreign countries had resulted in killings of many Pakistanis by the security forces. Europe had proved a death valley for many people from Pakistan,” they said.
They said people having original passports, containing the European visas, often sold their passports to the agents at the rates of the visas of the countries. Subsequently, they got registered FIR with police for loss of their passports and applied for new ones to the regional passport office on the basis of the FIR, the agents said, adding that they got new passports with the alleged malpractice of police and the passport office authorities.
The agents said the travel agents changed the passport photographs and put fake stamps on these to send people abroad.
Some travel agents, while talking to Dawn, said several industrialists sent aspirants to the foreign countries after getting handsome amounts. “They presented the prospective visitors to the foreign countries as officers working on key posts in their factories,” the agents said.
When contacted, the local trade bodies declined commenting on the issue. Although the illegal immigration process was not a new thing to the district, the government had yet to take appropriate action against those involved in it, the agents said.
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