A wooden crowded boat with migrants smashed into rocky reefs and broke apart while trying to land near Crotone, a port city in southern Italy, on Sunday.
The bodies of more than 60 of those on board, including Pakistanis, washed ashore but as to what happened to the remaining people there is no report as yet. Among the victims of boat tragedy there was quite a big chunk of Pakistanis, and there are quite a few particular reasons for that.
Pakistan encourages migration. Its pro-emigration policy is rooted in the objective of reducing domestic unemployment and increasing remittances through formal channels. Between 1971 and 2020 about 11.2 million registered Pakistanis have emigrated, over 90 percent of them being male. And that trend persists.
According to a survey conducted by Gallup & Gilani Pakistan, a majority would like to stay even if given an opportunity, but only one in three younger Pakistanis is willing to leave the country.
The official figures show that 839,339 Pakistanis left the country in 2022, while in month of January this year 59,977 Pakistanis went overseas. So, there is the conspicuous trend of ‘go abroad’ and send home money for the much-required financial needs. And as it happens it also tends to encourage the emigration even if it is through illegal manner. This has given birth to a mafia of traffickers whose services are available to anybody who would like to go abroad at any cost.
Shuja Umrani (Karachi)
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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