Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has allegedly asked the National Vocational and Technical Education Commission (Navtec) on 14 June to submit a comprehensive education and training program to produce one million skilled workers annually by 2010. Aziz also asked Navtec to take the necessary steps to be able to identify local and global demands for skilled labor and based on these, design appropriate needs-based training programs to plug skills gaps in the local and international labor market.
In the latest Trafficking in Persons report by the US State Department, Pakistan landed on Tier Two together with other countries whose governments had made significant efforts to meet the minimum standards for fighting human trafficking. The report recognized Pakistan’s initiatives last year and commended the country’s adoption of a national plan of action to eliminate trafficking. However, it urged Pakistan to take more effective measures to prosecute cases of internal trafficking and address the plight of millions of people still working as bonded labor across the country.
In his report to the National Assembly on 12 June, Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao disclosed that more than 110,000 Pakistani irregular migrants have been deported from 62 countries in the past two years – 57,452 in 2004 and 69,030 in 2005. During this period a total of 47,245 Pakistanis had been sent back by Saudi Arabia, 27,555 by the UAE, 21,471 by Iran and 21,777 by Oman. In addition, Pakistani authorities have intercepted some 3,329 migrants about to leave for abroad using forged documents. According to the minister, 854 cases have been brought up against irregular migrants and their recruiting agents. So far, 177 agents have been arrested and 46 convicted.
Some 758 Pakistani irregular migrants deported by Oman arrived at the Karachi seaport on 9 June 9 aboard a ship used for transporting livestock. The migrants traveled on the open sea for four days in an overcrowded vessel and without enough food. Many of them arrived without proper clothing. The migrants had been lured by human traffickers with promises of good paying jobs in Oman. However, having no work permits and valid visas, most of them end up spending several months in jail before being deported. For this year alone, Oman and other Gulf countries have already deported over 6,000 Pakistani irregular migrants.
Turkish authorities released the bodies of three out of 11 Pakistani irregular migrants who died of suffocation inside a cargo container while being smuggled to Greece via Turkey. Repatriated to Pakistan were the remains of Babar Hussein from Mong near Gujrat, Shahbaz Ahmad and Muhammad Babar, both from Sialkot. According to reports, Hussain had paid Rs400,000 to an agent to take him to Greece.
During a meeting to discuss bilateral cooperation in combating human trafficking, Kamal Shah, an official from Pakistan’s Interior Ministry, furnished a delegation from the Turkish Interior Ministry with a list of 26 people suspected of involvement in the illegal activity. According to Tariq Pervaz, FIA director general, there is a Turkish syndicate that facilitates the travel of Pakistani irregular migrants to Greece and other destinations in Europe. Pakistan started a crackdown on human traffickers last year, which has resulted in the arrest of some 1,400 suspected traffickers and reduced the number of Pakistani deportees from Turkey, from 10,000 in 2005 to 1,200 in the first five months of this year.
FIA deputy director Kaleem Imam revealed that over the last five months the agency has apprehended some 143 people at the Islamabad International Airport for various violations. Thirty-five people were held for holding forged Pakistani passports, 23 for fake visas, 26 for tampered travel documents, and 58 for other irregularities. In the process, the agency has allegedly collected some Rs30 million in fines.
Four suspected human smugglers belonging to a syndicate providing fake travel documents to Bangladeshi nationals were arrested by the Passport Circle of the FIA on 8 June. The FIA first arrested Saleem and Shahabuddin in Gulshan-I-Igbal based on a tip off. The pair then led agents to two other gang members, Faizullah and Nayan, who were subsequently nabbed at the Karachi Airport. Five Bangladeshis holding fake passports were also arrested at the airport with the two agents.
Up to 150 refugees left for Afghanistan on 6 June from the UNHCR’s Tarnol Voluntary Repatriation Center near Islamabad. The Commissioner for Afghan Refugees in Punjab, Riaz Hameed Chaudhry, who was on hand for the send-off, urged the departing refugees to rebuild their country. According to UNHCR assistant representative Indrika Ratwatte, a total of 73,000 Afghan refugees have so far been repatriated this year. Earlier, at a meeting among representatives of Afghanistan, Pakistan and the UNHCR held in Doha, Qatar on 30 May, the Pakistani government proposed a three-year plan for the gradual closure of all Afghan refugee camps in the country.
A special committee made up of representatives from Afghanistan and Pakistan will hold a meeting in Kabul within the next four months to review visa rules and other problems encountered by travelers using the recently started Pakistan-Afghan bus service. The transport service connects the city of Jalalabad in Afghanistan to Peshawar in Pakistan. The NWFP transport department is compiling a list of problems that travelers from both sides have encountered since the bus service resumed on 26 May. This list would be taken up in the committee’s next meeting.
Sources: IRIN, “Proposal to close all Afghan refugee camps within 3 years," Daily Times, 1 June 2006; Agencies, “Crackdown on human trafficking," The Peninsula, 3 June 2006; Agencies, “US commends Pakistan for fighting human trafficking," Daily Times, 6 June 2006; AFP, “Pakistan hands Turkey list of suspected human smugglers," The Peninsula, 7 June 2006; PPI, “Islamabad, Kabul move to simplify visa rules," Dawn, 7 June 2006; “Million work as bonded labour in Pakistan: US," Dawn, 7 June 2006; “150 refugees leave for Afghanistan," Dawn, 7 June 2006; DPA, “758 Pakistanis deported from Oman return home," Khaleej Times, 9 June 2006; “Karachi: Human traffickers held," Dawn, 9 June 2006; “Bodies of 3 illegal immigrants arrive," Daily Times, 11 June 2006; “Over 110,000 Pakistanis deported in two years," Daily Times, 13 June 2006; “Produce 1m skilled workers a year: PM," Dawn, 15 June 200