ISLAMABAD: Hours after alarm was raised in the National Assembly over Greece boat tragedy, followed by Speaker Raja Per­vaiz Ahsraf’s directions to the authorities concerned for stern action against human traffickers, the Federal Inv­es­tigation Agency (FIA) formed a four-member team to track down those responsible.

The directives from the NA speaker came after attention of the House was drawn towards the incident in which dozens drowned, including some Pakistanis, while attempting to enter the country illegally from Libya.

While search for survivors continued, the Foreign Office (FO) on Saturday confirmed that 12 Pakistanis, among 104 people, were found alive.

In Karachi, on the other hand, the FIA sprang into action and arrested a passenger leaving for Azerb­aijan for alleged human trafficking. The suspect was wanted in a criminal case, registered at the FIA’s Gujrat office, a spokesperson for the agency said, adding that he was involved in illegally sending Pakis­tani citizens, including those who had died in a shipwreck earlier this year, to Libya.

NA speaker, lawmaker seek investigation into boat tragedy; FO confirms 12 Pakistanis among survivors

On June 14, an overloaded boat — with around 750 people on board according to a European rescue support charity — sank in open seas off Greece.

The NA speaker earlier in the day observed that human smuggling was a horrific act to dodge innocent people in the name of sending them abroad and leaving them in the lurch to face such a situation.

He asked the government to take immediate action against those whosoever found involved in it and give them exemplary punishment.

On a point of order, Mau­lana Abdul Akbar Chitrali of Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal Pakistan (MMAP) drew the attention of lawmakers to the tragedy and said that reports had been circulating in the media that 310 Pakistanis had drowned in the incident. “According to eyewitnesses, only 18 people out of those could be saved,” he said.

Maulana Chitrali demanded that a report be placed before the House with details of those ‘missing’ and alleged human traffickers. “Why isn’t action taken against them (smugglers) and why is the foreign ministry still failing in this?”

“Such incidents are extremely dangerous for the country. What are our agencies doing? There are 25-26 agencies,” he remarked.

FO confirms 12 survivors

Meanwhile, the FO confirmed that 104 people were found alive, with 12 Pakis­tanis among them. However, in a tweet, it said: “At this stage, we are unable to verify the number and identity of Pakistani nationals among the deceased.

“The Pakistan embassy in Greece remains in contact with local authorities for the identification and recovery of Pakistani nationals,” the FO added.

In a statement, the Pakistan embassy in Greece requested the Pakistanis who feared their relatives to be on the capsized boat to send DNA samples for the identification of bodies.

A short tandem repeat (STR) DNA report of the parents or children of the missing person from a recognised laboratory, along with the missing person’s identity card or passport number, should be sent to the embassy’s email address, it added.

Published in Dawn, June 18th, 2023