Curbs on deportees

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The government has decided to block passports of all those who have been and would be deported from foreign countries over criminal activities. What more, it has made it loud and clear that begging abroad will be treated as an act of terrorism. The intention is to curb the soaring tendency of Pakistanis indulging in beggary in Middle Eastern states.

This curse, unfortunately, is becoming a norm as a large number of visitors to these Arab countries rely on the largesse of rich people there, and do not mind seeking alms and other donations, even being on pilgrimage to the holy lands. They were widely spotted by authorities at traffic signals and shopping avenues, looking out for a booty from the rich and the powerful, and taken into custody.

While no formal statistics are available as to what number of people have been deported to this day, and how genuine were the charges against them, this phenomenon has come to deteriorate ties with the Sheikhdoms and this is where an auto-correction in desperation is underway.

The issue of people thronging to greener pastures; seen berserk in abandoning the country; and being unmindful of the consequences of begging on the streets of Gulf States needs to be looked at on a broader canvas. It has much to do with the spiraling socio-economic unrest in the country, and the utter lack of social mobility for people from the downtrodden classes.

This is where even the educated youth and those lingering in an unending phase of unemployment opt for travelling abroad, with the menace of human-trafficking seen taking new twists and turns. The recent log of tragedies wherein travellers intending to reach Europe were drowned in high-seas is a grave social disorder swirling out of economic disparity.

While the Interior Ministry's move to introduce stringent legislation against such folks and to cancel their travel documents is a step towards deterrence, it is not sufficient in itself. Such attempts at combating human-trafficking and discouraging begging abroad should be supplemented through steps involving consolation and benevolence.