To live with dignity

The tragedy of migrants losing life on the high seas has become a sad phenomenon repeated one after another. In June 2023, hundreds of migrants drowned when an overcrowded vessel capsized and sank in international waters off the southwestern Greek coastal town of Pylos.

There were at least 209 Pakistanis aboard. In April of the same year, Pakistanis were among the 100 dead as two migrant boats sank in the Mediterranean off different towns in western Libya. Earlier in February 2023, Pakistanis were among 59 people killed when a wooden sailing boat carrying migrants crashed against rocks on the southern Italian coast.

The one which happened this year, on the night of December 14, is a sequence of these tragedies where several Pakistanis died in a boat capsizing incident in Greece. The death toll from the tragedy rocketed to 40 after rescue efforts by Greek authorities to find survivors, including 35 missing Pakistanis, ended without any success on Wednesday; whereas 47 Pakistanis were rescued by the Greek coastal authorities.

The Pakistani government’s response to the tragedy is more of an optic than anything else with a call by the head of the government for investigation and strict action against officials failing to combat trafficking and eliminating the trafficking mafia. The outcome of the investigation or application of strict action is never followed up and as such one tragedy after another continues unchecked.

In essence the tragedy is looked upon by the government merely as a case of human trafficking which brings a bad name for the country. On the contrary, these tragedies have far more humans attached to them than the country’s image. Never has there been a sincere study on the causes of these migrations in which so many young sons of this soil risk their lives for a better life in foreign lands, and, what has to be done to arrest this trend.

The recorded statement of one of the survivors of the tragedy of this December 14 provides much of the truth - which holds true for most of these unfortunate migrants. The fingers are being pointed at the failure of the government in providing enabling conditions to the youth of the land to live with dignity in the country of their birth.

Hassan Ali, one of the survivors of the December 14 tragedy, has his story to tell. When he fell into the icy waters of the Mediterranean Sea, he thought of his two children – of their smiles, their hugs and his hopes for their future.

Then he remembered the others from his small village in Pakistan’s Punjab province who had dreamed of making it to Europe and wondered if they too had spent their last moments in the pitch-black sea, thinking of home and the people they had left behind. Unable to swim, he says and adds that he felt certain that he would drown. Then he felt a rope – thrown from a merchant navy ship. “I held onto it with my life,” he says.

Hassan was the first person pulled on board in the early hours of Saturday, December 14, near the Greek island of Crete. Many others would follow during the two-day rescue operation that involved nine vessels, including the Greek coastguard as well as merchant navy ships and helicopters.

Hassan’s journey had started about three and a half months earlier when the 23-year-old left his wife and two toddler sons in their village near the major industrial city of Gujrat. The third of five siblings, he worked on construction sites as a steel fixer, earning 42,000 rupees ($150) per month, if he worked 10 to 12 hour days, seven days per week. But no matter how hard or long he worked, he struggled to stay afloat as prices of essential items kept rising.

“My electricity bill would be anywhere between 15,000 ($54) and 18,000 rupees ($64) [per month],” he explains. “And groceries would cost nearly the same for my family, including my parents and two younger siblings.”

Hassan often had to take small loans at the end of the month just to make ends meet and he was always worried about what would happen if there was some kind of emergency, like an illness in the family.

The family sold their small plot of land, along with Hassan’s mother’s jewellery, to help fund the unfortunate journey.

Similar is the story of others migrants. Some make it while others don’t. During the journey they endure all sorts of brutality and extortion at the hands of their multiple handlers.

The deaths at high seas of the youth of the country cannot be simply brushed aside as a case of human trafficking and bad image for the country; it is a case of government’s failure in providing an enabling environment to the youth of the country in education, employment and business setup.

Also, the elite of society cannot be absolved of its complicity of being beneficiaries and facilitators in injecting into our system of economy and social justice massive inequality insofar as distribution of resources is concerned, thereby leaving very little for the bottom segment of society. High electricity costs, inflation, economic slowdown and social disparity are not the doings of the lower or lowest segment of society; they are the victims of the doings of others.

This model of economic and social structure is unsustainable where the professional and the skilled talent of the country has no place in the country of its birth and has to migrate overseas for a better life.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024