An Indian movie by the name of ‘Dunki’ has been making waves on Netflix. The film stars Shahrukh Khan and Taapsee Pannu and tackles the subject of illegal immigration. It takes the audience through a journey of illegal immigrants who overcome various obstacles and live through near death experiences to reach the United Kingdom. Illegal immigration is a worldwide phenomenon, and it is a thriving business.
Destinations vary as per the illegal immigrants’ reach. For example, for the Africans, their destination has always been Italy or Spain – the closest European countries to them. For the Mexicans, it has been the United States while those living in the former Soviet republics, Russia is the land of opportunities. As far as the Rohingyas of Myanmar and the Hazaras of Afghanistan are concerned, they prefer Australia – primarily because they already have loved ones there.
The destination for majority of Pakistanis, Indians, Bangladeshis and other South Asians has been Europe – especially United Kingdom. These immigrants are either escaping persecution and lack of opportunities at home or want to reach their respective destinations to be with their relatives.
Desperate, they employ every means to go abroad and this is when human traffickers enter. In Pakistan, these traffickers are mostly based in central Punjab, especially the region from Jhelum to Gujrat and their peripheries. A large number of people from Gujrat live abroad and had mostly entered Europe through illegal means. Some are lucky to reach their destinations, others are not.
There is hardly a day when one does not hear about migrants either perishing at sea or being detained by border security forces of various countries. In most of the cases, human traffickers either abandon the migrants or get them arrested. Many are fitted into overcrowded boats which capsize most of the time. The recent case is of a boat carrying Rohingya migrants capsizing off the Indonesian coast of Aceh.
According to the UNHCR, more than 70 Rohingyas were “presumed dead or missing”, and if this figure is confirmed, it would be the biggest loss of life of migrants so far this year. Another alarming aspect that has recently been seen is ‘ransom’. Human traffickers are now resorting to torture to extract ransom from the families of the migrants.
According to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), there has been an increase in the trend where local gangs along with their international counterparts detain illegal immigrants and then extract huge amounts from their families. But despite the dangers and minimum chance of reaching their destinations, people take the risk to escape a life of misery. The government should therefore not only clampdown on such gangs to save innocent people from their clutches, but also provide them the necessary technical skills that enables them to move abroad legally.
The government should enter into agreements with various countries and send skilled manpower there. This issue needs to be tackled seriously.
