Dangerous journey

Ninety-four Hazaras left Balochistan in June 2012 to seek asylum in Australia and were never heard from until it emerged that most of them drowned on a ship that was illegally transporting them from Indonesia to Australia. This was revealed by three of the traffickers who were recently arrested by the FIA in Islamabad, after families of the missing lodged a complaint last year with the Anti-Human Trafficking Circle. While the arrests and confession are unlikely to provide relief to the families who had hoped against hope for some news of a miracle, the only closure they can gain is to see those responsible for the deaths locked up behind bars. Arresting three suspects is one step but it must go all the way to the top and include all the players that make human trafficking the complex and dangerous web that it is, in which officials often turn a blind eye because they are known to be involved, too. It is not about creating laws to stop human trafficking — though, of course, that is necessary; it is about showing a steely will towards implementing them.

In the above case, the suspects confessed that 152 people were aboard a ship that could only accommodate 60. This is always the case the world over with people escaping poverty or persecution in their home countries. The real tragedy is that this will not deter other Hazaras from trying to attempt escaping gruesome conditions. This year has seen eight attacks against the Hazaras in which over 200 have been killed. Many Hazaras want to seek asylum in Australia, at whatever the cost; 300 Hazara have died trying to get there, according to an Australian paper quoting a Hazara website. The blame falls squarely on the state for failing to provide basic security to citizens who then resort to whatever means they can acquire — through traffickers, for example — for a better life that should be made available in their own country. Pakistan has failed the Hazaras so far but has an opportunity to turn things around should its next government choose to do so.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 13^th, 2013.