Last Friday, 31 Pakistani illegal migrants, including three teenagers, were found hidden in a lorry during a routine check in southern France near the Italian border, and handed over to Italian authorities. Driver, also a Pakistani, has been arrested. Just nine days earlier, 39 migrants, all Vietnamese, were discovered suffocated to death in a refrigerated lorry in Britain, where probably these Pakistanis too were headed. It is a huge relief that they are alive, though their dream of a better life in Europe has come to an end.

The incident highlights the unsavoury reality that despite claims by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) that it has arrested hundreds of human traffickers and their agents, people smuggling to Europe still goes on via Iran and Turkey. In fact, the US State Department in its annual Trafficking in Persons Report for 2019, places Pakistan in tier 2 (of four tiers) countries whose governments do not fully meet minimum standards of its Trafficking Victims Protection Act but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards. Most victims are poor people who take loans or sell their properties in hopes of getting to greener pastures. Smugglers tell them they would easily get to the destination within a few days, but it takes much longer and arduous journeys that usually end in arrest, imprisonment and deportation. In one appalling incident a couple of years ago, 20 young men were killed by terrorists in Kech district of Balochistan on their way to Iran, apparently, on suspicion of being Shia pilgrims. Also, there have been several reports of illegal migrants, including many Pakistanis, perishing at sea en route to Europe. Yet economic migrants continue to take risks for a brighter future abroad. Most of the victims are uneducated, and hence unaware of the perils involved.

The government must fulfil its responsibility of putting a stop to this criminal activity. The human rights ministry needs to look into reports of alleged involvement of influential individuals in the human smuggling racket. FIA is said to lack the resources to effectively deal with these criminals. Those familiar with the situation suggest setting up a special task force for the purpose. And considering that it is a wider problem, there is need for a regional, if not an international cooperation mechanism. In the present instance, press reports have quoted Italian authorities as saying "we will try and establish if we can trace it back to a network and backers." Obviously, a regional network is involved in it. It can only be hoped investigations will lead not only to nabbing of the culprits in this case, but also to better cooperation among relevant agencies in the region. All resources must be leveraged to combat this threat to human well-being.