EDITORIAL: They have been bringing shame and humiliation on the country. In a recent briefing to a Senate standing committee, Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development secretary made the startling disclosure that 90 percent of beggars arrested in foreign countries are Pakistani nationals who had arrived in Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran on pilgrim visas.
Saudi and Iraqi ambassadors had also complained of overcrowding in their respective countries’ jails due to these people. It is bad enough that pilgrim visas should be so misused the official also told the Senate panel that a significant number of pickpockets arrested from such a sacred place as Masjid-e-Haram were found to be predominantly Pakistanis. Some others have similarly been tarnishing this country’s image in Japan as well.
A handful of such cases, perhaps, could be ignored as acts of desperation, but such a large of number of people caught begging in other countries points to an organised criminal activity. In fact, a few days subsequent to the Senate briefing, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) offloaded eight people from a Saudi-bound flight at the Multan airport. According to a statement issued by the relevant FIA official, it transpired during the immigration process that the group was travelling to the holy land for the purpose of begging.
They told investigators that a man who had charged them Rs 185,000 (each?) got their visas processed, and that upon reaching the destination they were to hand over half of the solicited money to a sub-agent. Those prospective passengers were sent to FIA’s Anti-Human Trafficking and Smuggling Wing for further action, and a case was registered against unnamed agents under Trafficking in Persons Act.
Yet that did not prove to be deterrent for the criminals involved in this nefarious activity. A couple of days later, at the same airport, FIA stopped another group of 16 people, including women and children, headed to Saudi Arabia in the guise of Umrah pilgrims. Likewise must be the situation at some other international airports.
Driving this scandalous activity, of course, is pervasive poverty, making it easy for criminal elements to prey on the vulnerabilities of the poor and destitute. Unfortunately, it figures nowhere in our policy planners’ priorities.
Many of those serving time in foreign jails for seeking alms may be professional beggars, but almost all incidents of illegal migrants dying at sea on way to European countries have included aspiring Pakistanis whose families sold their properties or took loans to pay large sums to people smugglers. Unless human trafficking rackets are effectively dealt with, embarrassing stories of Pakistanis imprisoned in other countries for begging or tragic tales of promising young people perishing at sea will continue to make our collective heads hang in shame.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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