Curbing human smuggling
The fresh arrests in Pakistan in connection with the recent boat capsize incidents in Libya and Greece, and several earlier incidents, reflect how human-trafficking is largely a family-run business, and also how freely criminals are allowed to operate in the country.
The arrested individuals include a woman from the so-called Jajja network of Sialkot. According to media reports, members of the network, mainly managed by a few siblings and their spouses, are based in several countries which helps them extort their victims several times over - first in Pakistan, when a person pays to be smuggled abroad, and then at various stops along the route, when traffickers threaten them to pay more, either on the spot or via friends and relatives in Pakistan, if they want to continue on the way to their intended destinations. The Jajjas were involved in a fraudulent work visa scheme, and some of their victims were on board the boats that recently sank in Greek and Libyan waters.
Law enforcement also revealed several 'new' routes taken by trafficked individuals, including going to Saudi Arabia on legitimate Umrah visas, then being smuggled to Egypt, from where they would be taken to Libya for the eventual journey to Europe. Though still dangerous, the relative initial safety of this route - compared to land crossings via Iran or Afghanistan - may encourage people to sign up with human smugglers.
It is also worth noting that several people who have been arrested or booked are middlemen based in rural areas, where most of the 'recruiting' takes place. However, none of the politically connected masterminds who handle operations in Islamabad, Lahore, Peshawar and Karachi have been touched.
One of the problems identified by experts is that lack of anti-trafficking legislation at the provincial level has hindered law enforcement, as provinces do not always strictly enforce national-level anti-trafficking regulations. This allows some criminals to stay under the radar by operating outside their local law enforcement's jurisdictions, while the kingpins can use their connections to hide in plain sight.