LAHORE, Aug 23: Oman has asked Pakistan to take strict measures to control human smuggling through sea routes.

Official sources said that the Gulf state had expressed its serious concern following an increase in the number of Pakistanis entering its territory through illegal means.

They said that Oman had also asked Pakistan to pay deportation expenses of their citizens but the latter had refused. The government used to contribute to the deportation charges in the past.

A copy of the letter from the Oman government has also been forwarded to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) here for action against the people involved in the heinous crime.

According to some reports, about 27,000 Pakistanis had been deported from Oman on different charges since 2001. An unconfirmed report says that over 1,000 Pakistanis are still languishing in different jails of Oman awaiting trials for illegal entry.

A senior FIA officer told Dawn on Monday that hundreds of people belonging to the poor families pay some Rs25,000 to 40,000 to human smugglers who arrange their travel by ferries to Oman via south-west Balochistan.

Many of them have reportedly lost their lives while attempting to enter the Gulf state to earn better livelihood. Coastguards, who are supposed to check the illegal human smuggling through sea, have yet to take effective measures to cope with the problem.

Quoting a 25-year-old Nadeem (not real name) from Sialkot who was recently deported from Oman, the FIA officer said that he paid Rs35,000 to a local agent for Muscat. He said the agent took him to Quetta where he and several others set off to Oman on a ferry.

"After reaching there, we encountered a group of coastguards who tried to stop us. Some of us jumped into the sea. The coastguards opened fire on us injuring five of us.

After a chase of a few hours, all of us were caught. They packed us in three vehicles and drove us to a detention cell where we were locked up. However, after a few weeks they deported us."