ISLAMABAD, June 9: The United State sixth annual ‘Trafficking in Persons’ report, released this month, appreciated Pakistan’s efforts to curb human trafficking.

Talking to reporters on Friday at his office, Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao send that Pakistan’s name had been removed from the US watch-list, while India, Iran, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Turkey and Greece were still on the list.

The report said Pakistan took a number of good measures such as the national action plan, establishing of anti-trafficking units and cell within the ministry, training police officers, attorneys and judges on anti-human trafficking measures, protecting trafficking victims and inter-agency task force.

It said the government of Pakistan had improved its efforts to investigate and prosecute trafficking cases. The government reported investigating 765 cases of trafficking of which 448 were filed for prosecution and 92 people were convicted.

In addition, it said that the government introduced a bill in the National Assembly to expedite trafficking cases through the judicial system.

The minister quoting the report said that India was not coordinating with the international community to combat the menace and it had not taken any notable measures in this regard.

Mr Sherpao said that after the last year earthquake the interior ministry had set up anti-trafficking units in the quake-affected areas to deal with the possibilities of human trafficking.

He said: “Not a single case of human trafficking was reported from the quake-affected areas of the NWFP and Azad Kashmir.”—APP