Death on the high seas or on the streets of Karachi continues unabated and without any serious attempt by any quarter to put the brakes on these happenings.
According to latest reports, 771 people lost their lives in traffic accidents in Karachi while 8174 were injured suffering serious injuries of various types in 2004.
The same trend of death continued on the high seas with hundreds losing their lives within a few months in desperate attempts to migrate to European countries lured by false propaganda of living a life of luxury and the chance to earn large amounts of money.
While it might be hard to preempt traffic accidents it is quite different when it comes to smuggling human beings that have to go through a lot of paperwork and physical scrutiny before they exit our shores. I cannot imagine any father or brother deliberately putting their loved ones through the ordeal that illegal immigration entails if they are well informed and the tragic possibilities are well publicized.
It all starts with the so-called agents publicizing through word of mouth the heaven that awaits young people if they were to pay a hefty amount which would facilitate their journey to a wonderful new life of good living and fast earning of dollars and pounds.
A safe and comfortable journey in a spacious and sturdy cargo ship and stays in five-star hotels is also assured. Targets of this propaganda are sometimes the parents of young boys and sometimes the young men themselves. What is provided is exactly the opposite.
According to some young survivors, instead of a large cargo ship they are forced to board overcrowded fishing trawlers who are ready to capsize after two or three days on the high seas. The attitude of the agents has also changed in the meanwhile and they resort to physical abuse, threats and sometimes even pushing the protestors over board.
There are several human trafficking routes and they keep changing. Previously, these routes included Egypt and Libya but more recently there has been a novel trafficking route passing through Senegal. Reports suggest that this route is operated from Pakistan by a lady and her three sons and the lady and one son have recently been arrested. They are residents of Gujrat.
One should remember that the victims of these agents are middle-class families and the amounts demanded for this “Favour” to their wards is sometimes the life-savings of the family concerned. Sometimes parents even take loans and or mortgage their houses to pay the agents the required amount.
As you can see the drowning of these young people is sometimes a double tragedy as parents loose both their bread earner as well as the roof of their home.
The amazing thing is that in spite of such frequent tragedies people still fall for the stories of these agents and young people continue to lose their life on the shores of countries that they had thought would provide them heaven on earth.
What is required is adequate publicity of the hazards of undertaking journeys to seek illegal entry into countries without required documentation. One good way to publicize this could be through puppet shows. The simple people from villages and smaller towns still enjoy puppet shows.
A well written story with a gruesome end depicting the horrors of undertaking a journey for illegal entry into certain countries could not only draw large crowds but in a simple manner narrate the hazards of such illegal activities and the huge losses both in life and resources and the tragic end that awaits those indulging in such adventures.
I am actually surprised that we have not used the power of puppetry in other areas as well. Take for example the question of resistance to polio vaccines. We all know that such resistance comes mainly from the uneducated classes and puppets could be a good medium to reach them and demonstrate to them the hazards their children face if not vaccinated in time.
Whether it is the question of young men dying in pursuit of fairy tales about distant lands filled with riches or infants infected by polio due to the ignorance of their parents out of the box thinking and innovative methods are required to stem this tide of ignorance that is leading to such tragic results.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
The writer is a well-known columnist
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