THE challenge of illegal migrations should be viewed through a humanitarian lens. Harsh punishments for the poor overlook human misery, and end up criminalising poverty. Although collective global efforts have tried to end modern slavery, the scourge — rooted largely in the government’s economic failure — persists with thousands being trafficked annually. Over the past couple of weeks or so, Gujranwala, Gujrat and Sialkot courts have sentenced over 60 deportees — largely from Libya and Greece — to 10- to 15-day jail terms, with fines as high as Rs50,000. The FIA has imposed a five-year ban on foreign travel for the offenders. While disciplinary action is needed for illegal immigrants, sending the desperate to prison is merely a band-aid on a metastatic malaise.

People who brave treacherous waters in rickety boats in their pursuit of a better life abroad are not criminals but victims of dire socioeconomic conditions. Treating the indigent harshly is not effective. It is, in fact, a distraction from the absence of social welfare policies. The state must guarantee the rights of victims of human trafficking and smuggling so that they choose to stay. It must counter corruption, powerful patronage, legal loopholes and the culture of criminal impunity. Without an institutional overhaul, databanks, training, funds and incentives for law-enforcement, toxic transnational cartels will expand. The West, responsible for most conflicts, can fork out a fraction of its expenditure on wars to secure sufferers, while those escaping our moribund economy should be facilitated — for instance, by raising their outrageously low wages. The traps oftrafficking rings widen as poverty and turmoil grow as revealed in the 2025 IOM report: at least 2,722 illegal migrants from the Asia-Pacific region died or went missing, with Pakistan’s score standing at a disturbing 109. When rulers undercut citizens’ living standards, and allow predators to get away with fines, the blame cannot be pinned on the victims.

Published in Dawn, July 14th, 2026