The Frontier Post revived the memories of famous Pakistani women hockey player late Shahida Raza, who was killed in a Shipwreck off the coast of Italy a few months ago, during the media interaction with Ms. Cindy Dyer, US Ambassador at Large to Combat Human Trafficking at the US State Department on Friday. Shahida was among 63 deceased when a wooden boat carrying 200 illegal migrants broke apart on rocks during an illegal landing on the Italian coast in February this year.
Surprisingly, the media interaction of the US Special Envoy to Combat Human Trafficking coincided with another tragic incident of Shipwreckage that occurred in the Greek Ocean involving over 750 illegal refugees among whom above 78 people lost their lives in a state of helplessness and misery during their failed attempt to reach Italy. The Frontier Post asked Cindy about the world’s failure in taking stringent measures and inflicting severe punishment on the culprits to end human trafficking, Ambassador Cindy admitted that until human traffickers work with impunity, this menace can not be controlled around the world.
The menace of human trafficking flourishes unrestrictedly in all parts of the world, while it has shaped into an alternative business to the migration industry in the current era when illegal migration from Asia and Africa to Europe and North America is at its peak. The peril of human smuggling is in full swing in the Southern Hemisphere where people use illegal means to migrate from Latin America and East Asia to New Zealand and Australia. Multiple carnages of mass killings and border shootings happened over the past years that cost thousands of lives of innocent migrants while crossing borders through illegal dangerous mountainous terrains in South America while countless migrants had been drowned in ship swamps in the Adriatic and Mediterranean seas.
Illegal migration from poor nations in Asia, Africa, and Latin America is on the rise because of the abundance of economic opportunities, quality living and education, security, and civil liberties along with lax immigration regimes of Western nations. As legal migration has a lengthy and hectic process and demands the bulk of the money, high education, and top skills, thus, illegal migration and voluntary human trafficking has become a top priority for young men, and women from developing countries to fulfill their dream and reach top destinations in Europe and North America.
According to reports, a majority of Travel agencies are involved in human trafficking or at least have working relationships with professional human traffickers in Asia particularly in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey, Bangkok, Dubai, Syria, and Iran meanwhile Custom Agents and border guards in East Europe, Latin America, and Balkan states facilitate human smugglers for mere few hundred dollars. The reports reveal that millions of people move annually through the dangerous sea and land routes, across mountainous terrains in Eastern Europe, and South America while others use horrific sea passages to cross the Sea of Aegean, Red, and Medditerean Seas, and Gulf of Marmara to reach Italian and Spanish shores.
Awfully, rising poverty, mismanagement, and corruption in developing nations had shattered the public faith in the rulers, and youths are fleeing their countries through legal as well as illegal means that have caused a brain drain in most nations in Asia and Africa. Currently, Pakistan is at the top of the list of nations that face a mass exodus, and dozens of Pakistanis illegal immigrants often involve in each tragedy of ship swamp or mass killings that occur in the European Seas or in Brazilian/Maxicon jungles. This is a very awful and alarming situation that unemployment and corruption had eaten up the opportunities for the youth and thousands of Pakistani doctors, engineers, intellectuals, and national stars like Shahida Raza are fleeing the country every other day, while several of them embrace death in a hope of quality life.
This state of affairs merits due attention from the leadership if they really have concerns regarding the rapid mass exodus and brain drain going on through legal and illegal migration from the country. The government must create conducive and livable economic and social conditions in the country so our youth opt to live in their nation instead of losing their lives in barren hills, rough seas, and custodial detention in other countries.
