Mohammad Asif Butt was in his early 20s in 2004, when he left his village Majra Kalan in Sambrial Tehsil in Sialkot in an attempt to travel to Greece via Iran and Turkey. He managed to fly to Tehran on a pilgrim visa, arranged for him by his agent - a human trafficker. From there, he was to first cross into Turkey and then to Greece through illegal border crossings. Mr Butt recalled that early one December evening, the agent took a group of five Pakistanis to a pre-selected crossing point. “As bad luck would have it, the moment we reached the crossing point, the agent received a telephone call from another handler who asked him to change the route because of increased patrolling in the area,” he said.

“He took us to a different place and from a distance pointed to an area from where we were to enter Turkey. After walking for a couple of hours, we reached the Iran-Turkey border. The next thing I remember was an explosion right underneath my feet as I stepped onto a landmine. I was hurt but remained conscious. With the help of some fellow Pakistanis, I managed to reach the nearby hospital. I only realised later that I had lost my right foot,” he narrated.

Recently married, Mr Butt, who works at a brick kiln owned by a known family as a supervisor, now uses an artificial limb. He says he would never recommend anyone to ever travel with the help of human traffickers.

Mandi Bahauddin to Europe

Usman Ali, a resident of Mandi Bahauddin is in his early 20’s. In 2012, he used to repair mobile phones for a living. Ali would always try to convince his mother to let him go to Europe, like some of the other residents of the area who sent lots of money each month to their families back home.

While he was able to make ends meet, he believed his family’s status could never change unless he went abroad. His family didn’t agree. One day, in 2012, his mother sent him to collect her committee (community saving) money from a woman in the neighbourhood. Ali collected the amount from the woman but instead of returning home, he ran away with the money. He travelled to Baluchistan in the hopes of crossing the border into Iran and eventually travelling to Europe. However, while crossing the border he was caught by the Pakistani border security force and taken into custody. His family made many efforts before he was finally able to return home.

The two who made it to Turkey

Subhan Ahmed, 30 and Omer Farooq, 25 managed to acquire visas to travel to Iran for pilgrimage to holy sites in 2014. They travelled to Iran and with the help of an agent managed to cross the Iran-Turkey border into Turkey.

An agent who runs a consultancy firm said the two were unemployed and wanted to change their fate by travelling abroad. “Now both of them are working at a bread shop in Turkey and waiting for a chance to enter Europe,” he said.

Published in Dawn, April 13th, 2015

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