Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has declared Monday (today) to be a national day of mourning in response to the unfortunate occurrence in which a migrant boat collapsed off the coast of Greece, killing numerous people, including Pakistanis.
The unfortunate vessel, which had between 400 and 750 passengers on board, sank in the Mediterranean Sea not far from the Greek shore, killing at least 78 people. According to the most recent news sources, 104 individuals were saved and brought to Kalamata, Greece.
On June 19, the nation will mark a day of sorrow, according to a notification from the Prime Minister’s Office. It was said that all significant buildings will fly the national flag at half-mast.
PM forms committee:
A high-level committee made up of four people has been established by the Prime Minister to look into the terrible boat capsize event off the coast of Greece.
The National Police Bureau Director General Ehsan Sadiq, who will serve as the committee’s chair, Minister of Foreign Affairs Additional Secretary (Africa) Javed Ahmed Umrani, AJK’s Police Region Poonch Deputy Inspector General Sardar Zaheer Ahmed, and FIA’s Joint Secretary Faisal Nisar Chaudhry will make up the committee.
According to its mandate, the committee will investigate the facts surrounding the Greece boat tragedy in order to identify any gaps or failures in Pakistan’s legal system or enforcement apparatus that may have exposed valuable human lives to the whims of human trafficking in this particular case or in previous instances.
It is important to note that 12 Pakistanis were among the survivors of the overturned, overloaded fishing boat that sunk off the Peloponnese in southern Greece, as verified by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
PM Shehbaz was cited as stating today in a press statement from the media department of the Prime Minister Office, “Sympathies of the entire nation, including me, are with the families of the deceased.”
‘Human trafficker’ in chief is detained
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), according to the most recent sources, claimed to have apprehended a key human trafficker who was involved in shipping individuals abroad on Sunday night in Sheikhupura, Punjab.
The investigating agency arrested Talha Shahzaib, the main suspect, in Sheikhupura after acting on a tip. For sending him abroad, Zahid Akbar, a Farooqabad resident, had given him Rs6.5 million.
The change occurred hours after PM Shehbaz vowed to “severely punish” anybody involved in human trafficking and urged a swift crackdown on offenders.
According to FIA officers, who also noted that Akbar’s parents reside in Italy, the suspected human trafficker transported Akbar to his uncle who lives in Libya.
10 alleged human traffickers were arrested.
The authorities said earlier today that at least 10 accused human traffickers had been detained in the nation days after hundreds of migrants perished in drowning accidents off the coast of Greece.
Nine persons, including one in Gujrat, according to the officials, were apprehended in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, where the majority of the fatalities were found.
A local representative from the AJK added, “They are currently being investigated for their role in facilitating the entire process.”
Between 400 and 750 persons, according to the International Organisation for Migration and UNHCR, were reportedly on the ship.
