Trafficking of children
THERE is nothing new in reports that Pakistan is one of the biggest hubs of
human trafficking — that is, the abominable business of transporting people illegally across borders. What is worrying though is the revelation that those willing to take up the arduous task of crossing many international frontiers in order to land somewhere in Europe include even minors and teenagers. Two youngsters being kept at the Child Protection and Welfare Bureau in Lahore after they were sent back to Pakistan by Iranian and Greek authorities prove that the trend is catching on. One news report suggests 15 youngsters have been deported back to Pakistan in the first ten months of the current year alone after they were arrested by border officials in Iran, Turkey or Greece. Coming on the heels of an international campaign that effectively ended the smuggling of Pakistani children to the Gulf states as camel jockeys, this latest trend shows that traffickers are successfully marketing European destinations to lure parents to send their children to these faraway places in search for quick and extra bucks.
At the same time it also confirms how vulnerable Pakistan is on this count. With a very young population — about 50 per cent of all people living in Pakistan are aged between 15 and 24 years — our country hardly affords facilities and opportunities to accommodate all of them within its own borders. That leaves a lot of room for desperate measures like sending our younger generation abroad, by any means possible, or leaving them at the mercy of the forces of anarchy and destruction. The fact that so many of Pakistani children are becoming the foot soldiers of international jihadi forces — as fighters as well as suicide bombers — testifies to our failure to channelise their youthful exuberance for positive gains rather than allow their trafficking to other parts of the world. The government of late has taken a lot of laudable steps, including the promulgation of a law in 2002, to stem the tide of human smuggling. Yet it will take a comprehensive strategy involving social, economic, educational and cultural measures to bring it to a complete halt. The only other option is to let people drift — a sure recipe for disaster if the people involved make up the bulk of the population and on them depends the future of the country.
http://www.dawn.com/2007/10/23/ed.htm#3
October 23, 2007 Tuesday