23 ‘most wanted’ traffickers arrested: official

FIA writes to all provinces urging vigorous investigation and prosecution

ISLAMABAD:

With Pakistan retained on the ‘Tier-2 watch list” in the US Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report for 2015, authorities claim that they have stepped up measures against human trafficking, arresting around two dozen most-wanted traffickers this year.

The interior ministry recently disclosed that it had arrested as many as 23 alleged human traffickers this year whose names appear in the FIA’s Red Book.



According to the interior ministry, as many as 4,522 people were trafficked or were exposed to human trafficking since 2002. During this time, the government had successfully prosecuted 1,313 human traffickers under the Ordinance for Prevention and Control of Human Trafficking 2002.  The disclosure came after the US State Department released its latest Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report which retained Pakistan on its ‘Tier-2 watch list’.



That report had prompted the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) immigration wing to write to all provinces, urging them to “vigorously investigate and prosecute suspected [internal] human trafficking offenders respecting due process, as well as government officials suspected of complicity in trafficking.”

Focus on internal trafficking

The letter said that most of the issues of internal trafficking need to be dealt with by the provincial departments, while the FIA would deal with external trafficking, following on from the two distinct jurisdictional divisions outlined in the TIP report.



“Unfortunately, the issue of internal trafficking is not given due importance and action taken is far below of what is desired,” the letter complained. “The successful prosecution of law and conviction rate is poor in TIP cases. The little action that is taken is not communicated to appropriate forums nor publicised.” But efforts for eliminating human trafficking suffer when officials from the premier agency tasked with tackling it are themselves complicit in the crime.

An FIA official from Faisalabad region is currently facing charges in the Islamabad High Court for not arresting influential criminals, who had trafficked a teenage girl to Dubai for prostitution. The victim’s family allege that Sub-inspector Ajmal Hussain pressurised them to reach a settlement with the traffickers.

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar admitted during a recent news conference that key information is sometime leaked to ‘wanted groups’ from within. “But now we are taking strict action against such officials.”



In response to an inquiry initiated by the upper house of parliament, the interior ministry recently fleshed out its plans to curb trafficking. The FIA will establish anti- trafficking circles and police stations in five FIA zonal directorates to investigate and prosecute illegal migrants and travellers.

“A mass awareness campaign with the help of UNODC is also under way,” the ministry’s record submitted before the Senate shows.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 2^nd, 2015.