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01-02-2025
Bureau Report
ISLAMABAD: When Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif removed Ahmed Ishaq Jahangir from his position as the chief of the country’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Wednesday, he became the highest-profile casualty in a sweeping organizational purge following the deaths of at least 43 Pakistanis off the coast of Morocco earlier in January.
The drowning incident came to light on January 15, when Moroccan authorities rescued 36 people after their boat was stranded in the Mediterranean Sea for 13 days. At least 37 others, including several Pakistanis, remain missing.
Just four weeks before that, Greek authorities and merchant navy ships carried out four separate rescue missions near the Greek coast, saving at least 200 people, while close to 50 died, at least 40 of them Pakistanis.
These incidents have set off a rare crackdown by the Sharif-led government on officials who were tasked with stopping the human smuggling networks that lure Pakistanis from rural towns and villages with dreams of a life in Europe, and take them on dangerous, illegal migration routes that far too often end in death and tragedy in the waters of the Mediterranean.
Before Jahangir’s removal, almost 50 FIA officials were dismissed for alleged negligence related to both the Greece and Morocco incidents. Additionally, the FIA said that more than 50 officials had been blacklisted from serving at any immigration checkpoints or anti-human trafficking units across the country, following a government inquiry, while several arrests were made targeting individuals who facilitated human smuggling networks.
These moves follow mounting criticism of the government for failing to dismantle human smuggling rackets and for its apparent inability to safeguard the lives of citizens who feel compelled to take risky journeys to Europe in breach of migration laws.
A senior government official, who is part of the task force formed by Sharif, said the prime minister was now keenly supervising the government’s response.
“The premier is taking these incidents very seriously. He realizes the implications and reputational damage to the country, as well as the tragedy that afflicts the families of those who die or get stuck in far-off countries,” the official told media, requesting anonymity.
“We have improved not only our border screening but are also focusing on enforcement and prosecution. Now, smuggling someone out of Pakistan is going to be a daunting task,” the official claimed.
A long history of migration
This is easier said than done, as the recent deaths off Morocco despite the Sharif administration’s ongoing crackdown show.
Pakistanis seeking to migrate to European nations is not a new phenomenon. The trend began more than six decades ago, following the construction of Pakistan’s major hydroelectric project, the Mangla Dam.
The initial wave of migrants consisted of those displaced by the dam’s construction. They were compensated by the Pakistani and British governments, allowing them to relocate to the United Kingdom.
Most came from Punjab, Pakistan’s most prosperous and populous province, particularly from cities such as Gujrat, Sialkot, Gujranwala, Mandi Bahauddin and Faisalabad.
