Migration drive and state of Pakistan

Seven Pakistanis died and many were injured in a boat wreckage incident in the Mediterranean sea near the Libyan Port city of Benghazi in recent days. According to the details, the wooden boat was heading to Europe from the Libyan coastal city of Qasr Alkayar with over 80 people onboard. This was the second incident of its kind in less than a week, which involves illegal migration/ human trafficking from Asia and Africa to Europe through dangerous sea routes and rough weather conditions. Earlier, a refugee ship carrying near 200 people mostly from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Bangla Dash, and Africa crashed against the rocks off the Crotone, a Coastal city in Southwestern Italy. That incident cost the lives of 62 migrants including 4 Pakistanis, while a Pakistani woman athlete and former football star Shahida Raza was among the deceased in Shipwreck near Italy.

Illegal migration from poor nations in Asia, Africa, and Latin America is on the rise because of the abundance of economic opportunities, quality education, safety, and security along with lax immigration regimes and civil liberties in Europe and America. As legal migration has a lengthy and hectic process and demands volumes of money, high education, and top skills, thus, young men, and women from developing countries use illegal means to reach top destinations in the west. Such situations gave birth to the lucrative human trafficking industry across the world, particularly in Pakistan, Iran, the Middle East, Turkey, Greece, Bangkok, Belarus, Poland, Italy, Spain, Brazil, and Mexico. The reports suggest that millions of people move through the dangerous sea and land routes, across mountainous terrains in Eastern Europe, and South America while others use horrific sea passages across the Sea of Aegean, Red, and Medditerean Seas, and Gulf of Marmara to reach Italian and Spanish shores.

Awfully, seven decades after gaining independence from British colonialism in 1947, Pakistan is still facing acute economic fragility and financial depletion despite its possession of tremendous untapped hidden reserves including oil, natural gas, gold, copper, and other minerals coupled with a capable and talented youth. Apparently, decades-long mismanagement of successive governments and corruption of leaders and government officials brought the nation to the verge of an economic collapse. Such a situation shattered the public belief in the rulers and talented people are fleeing the country through illegal and illegal means that have caused a brain drain in the country, thus collective wisdom of the top national economists, political strategists, and public leaders failed to rescue the nation from persistent economic volatility in the past. Presently, top positions in the bureaucracy, judiciary, and other government institutions are auctioned or executives are being hired on political grounds, while no capable youth can achieve his rightful job on merit through legal means. This is the reason that Pakistani doctors, engineers and scientists, intellectuals, and national stars like Shahida Raza are leaving the country every other day after disappointment over the state of affairs in the country.

This is an alarming situation that merits due attention by the leaders if they really have concerns regarding the ongoing population evacuation and brain drain through legal and illegal migration from the country. Therefore, the government must create conducive and livable economic and social conditions in the country so the people prefer to live in their nation instead of losing their lives in barren hills, rough seas, and custodial detention in other nations.