THE FIA has decided to battle the menace of human smuggling with an AI-based app to reduce human sale and ease immigration. A pilot project of the freshly minted app will be launched at the Islamabad airport. The initiative is a welcome step in modernising the agency. In developed countries, AI tools are considered revolutionary in the context of deterrence as they are crucial to the identification of victims and traffickers, exploitative online content, detecting signs of trafficking as well as helping law enforcement prioritise cases according to risk assessment. For Pakistan, the danger of excessive reliance on the mechanism runs high due to limited training, poor documentation, malpractices, lack of educated police officers and more. A more prudent route to take would be using it to streamline due process through efficient investigation and speedy prosecution. This technology, however, can uncover the secret patterns of trafficking mafias.

Shorter queues cannot alleviate the root causes pushing people out of their homeland. The first goal should be to improve lives. Unemployment, illiteracy, poverty, negligible opportunities and crime force people to risk their lives for greener pastures. Among the primary drivers of illegal migration, aside from uncertainty and dispossession, is the absence of faith in those tasked with keeping them safe. The FIA, for instance, is bound by law to crack down on perpetrators and guard potential victims in human trade hubs. Unfortunately, it often finds itself mired in allegations of collusion. Such accusations, and the fact that human smuggling is a transnational business of immense magnitude and money, often lead to claims that the illegal practice has the patronage of influential quarters and the authorities’ sanction in return for handsome commissions. Corruption in law enforcement hinders progress. What worsens matters is that most countries where human smuggling rings flourish are cursed with the same dilemma.

Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2025