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19 smuggled
Pak kids head home
By Asma Ali Zain
2 September 2004
DUBAI - Nineteen Pakistani children, aged between two
to eight years, who were brought into the country illegally
by unscrupulous agents and ‘imposter’ parents
were flown back to Pakistan yesterday.
Out of the 19 children, 10 had valid passports while
nine were issued outpasses by the Pakistan Consulate
here, said Pakistani Human Rights Activist and Advocate
Ansar Burney whose visit was meant to rescue the kidnapped
children and send them back to their ‘original’
parents in Pakistan.
Speaking to Khaleej Times, Pakistani Consul-General
Amanullah Larik confirmed that nine outpasses had been
issued for the children while five adults would accompany
them. “The children were brought to the consulate
last night and the consulate staff issued outpasses
for them on a priority basis,” he said.
Shafi Samana, President of Pakistan Association, Dubai,
said that the association had arranged for the air tickets
for the nine children and five adults. “As part
of its efforts to help the needy Pakistanis in the UAE,
the association has donated the tickets to the 14 people
from its welfare fund,” he said.
“The whole exercise was not possible without
the help of the government authorities who helped us
trace the children from all over the emirates. The cooperation
of the Pakistan Embassy in Abu Dhabi, Pakistan Consulate
in Dubai and the Pakistan Association is laudable due
to which I have been able to take these children back
to Pakistan,” said Mr Burney.
The 19 children had either been kidnapped or sold by
the parents and brought to the UAE from the rural areas
of Punjab including Dera Ghazi Khan and Multan, he said.
“Five adults claiming to be the parents of the
children are also being sent to Pakistan. “Whether
their claims are true or not will be verified once we
get back to Pakistan,” said Mr Burney adding that
the tedious and heart wrenching process of finding the
true parents of the children would start once the children
are back in Pakistan and are in a state to talk.
Placing the blame on child trafficking in third world
countries, Mr Burney said that the issue has to be tackled
at its root cause.
“In Pakistan, parents of such children are either
duped by unscrupulous agents who claim to “adopt”
the child, or in many cases, parents sell off their
children for money,” he explained.
“Corruption and poverty led the poor parents
to sell off their offspring, which is a very sad problem,”
he said.
Describing the condition of the children, Mr Burney
said that the children had been brain-washed and were
made to believe that the people accompanying them were
their true parents.
“The modus operandi of these ‘agents’
is that after the kidnap or purchase of the children,
they get them endorsed in the mother’s passport
or get a separate passport for the child after which
the child can travel internationally with his ‘parents’
without arousing any suspicion.
Giving a background of the child trafficking issue
Mr Burney said that children were trafficked from Pakistan,
India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and several countries in
Africa and brought to the Middle Eastern countries for
several reasons.
Mr Burney’s Ansar Burney Welfare Trust International
(ABWTI) has successfully traced out more than 82,000
children from the world over through its ‘Bureau
of Missing and Kidnapped Persons’ and has delivered
them safely to their families.
Much more
to come in Iraq hostage crisis
By Syed Saleem Shahzad
Jul 29, 2004
KARACHI - The surge in hostage-taking in Iraq,
with the most recent involving two Pakistani nationals,
could be the prelude to many, as hundreds of foreigners
are missing in the country, a number of whom are believed
to have already been taken by the Iraqi resistance to
be displayed later.
The capture of the two Pakistanis also serves as a
warning that the citizens of Muslim countries will be
targeted if they "collaborate" with the United
States, even in the most tenuous way as civilian workers
in the country.
Sajid Naeem, 29, a driver, and Raja Azad, 49, an engineer,
went missing in Iraq on Friday after a convoy of trucks
in which they were traveling was attacked. The two men
work for al-Tamimi, a legal firm based in the United
Arab Emirates. An Iraqi militant group calling itself
the Islamic Army of Iraq said it had taken the two for
working for US forces and sentenced them to death because
Pakistan was discussing sending soldiers to Iraq.
Pakistan is considering sending about 1,000 troops
under United Nations cover to guard UN premises all
over Iraq. However, Islamabad has also been said to
be considering dispatching up to 10,000 "non-combatant"
troops for peacekeeping purposes.
This would take place once three other Muslim countries,
Yemen, Morocco and Jordan, fulfilled their promises
to provide troops for Iraq to join up with soldiers
from more than 30 countries (none of them Muslim) already
under US command in Iraq.
Previously, an Iraqi resistance group abducted Pakistani
national Amjad Hafeez, but being a Muslim they let him
go.
Similarly, on Monday, Mohamed Mamdouh Qutb, the third-highest
Egyptian diplomat in Iraq, who had been abducted outside
a mosque last Friday, was released "because of
the religious faith and moral qualities he possesses",
according to a taped message from the Lions of Allah
Brigade broadcast on alJazeera television. Iraqi Prime
Minister Iyad Allawi visited Cairo last week reportedly
to discuss the option of using Egyptian troops to train
Iraq's forces.
The hostage-takers are unlikely to be as lenient should
Pakistan and other Muslim countries actually commit
troops. According to the latest available information,
two Pakistanis, an Egyptian, three Indians, two Kenyans
and two Jordanians are being held.
A group calling itself the Bearers of the Black Banners
said it was holding the Egyptians, Indians and three
Kenyans. It says the detained men all drove trucks for
the Kuwaiti company al-Tamimi, which supports the US
military in Iraq by transporting supplies.
The two Jordanians, also truck drivers, were kidnapped
and threatened with execution by a group calling itself
the Mujahideen Corps. According to a taped message from
the kidnappers aired by Associated Press Television
Network, if the Jordanian construction and catering
company they work for, Daoud and Partners, does not
stop doing business with the US military, the men will
be killed.
The Times of India, quoting the Kuwait News Agency
(KUNA), said more than 100 Pakistanis were missing in
Iraq. These include job-seekers lured by a broker to
work in the European Union. "But when they reached
Iraq, the agent dumped them there owing to the US-led
invasion," sources in Pakistan told KUNA. "Since
then, they have been stranded there. Some have managed
to escape, while others have been taken hostage."
That Pakistanis were in Iraq first became known when
the parents of two missing cousins - Nadeem Hameed and
Arshad Haieder - approached the government and the International
Ansar Burney Welfare Trust (IABWT) seeking help for
their release, the paper maintained, quoting KUNA.
Speaking to Asia Times Online in a telephone interview,
the head of IABWT, Ansar Burney, said he had recently
visited Iraq and his investigations revealed that more
than 400 Pakistani pilgrims and other visitors had reached
Iraq via the Iran border without visas, and their whereabouts
was not known.
"I was contacted by the family members here in
Pakistan whose relatives visited Iraq as pilgrims or
as job-seekers as they heard rumors that under US administration
new jobs would be created and dished out to them. Since
there were no restrictions at the borders, no visas
or anything, as a result I personally witnessed a large
number of people from different countries walking into
Iraq. The chances of infiltration cannot be ruled out
in this kind of a situation as well," Burney maintained.
He said that during his stay in Iraq he found the country
in complete chaos and anarchy. Recently he received
information that a few Pakistani pilgrims had been detained
by US forces as terror suspects, and he was soon going
back to Iraq to seek their release.
He said that of the hundreds of missing Pakistanis,
there was a strong possibility that many had already
been abducted and were being held in "private jails"
to be used as bargaining chips for future demands. This
could also be the case for other nationals, he said.
The hostage-taking tactic has had success already.
So far this year more than 60 foreigners have been abducted
in Iraq. While most have been freed - at least six have
been killed - disturbing videotapes have been aired
by their captors to pressure their countries against
doing business with the US military, or sending troops
to Iraq.
The broadcast of a tape showing abducted Filipino Angelo
de la Cruz led to large demonstrations in Manila. These
were followed by withdrawal of the small cadre of soldiers
the Philippines had dispatched to Iraq. This was seen
again in the reaction in South Korea to Kim Sun-il's
video of his desperate plea for his life. Demonstrations
pressured the government to reconsider any ties to the
US-led occupation of Iraq. Graphic videos, such as that
of the US businessman Nick Berg's head being sawn off,
have incited political dissent.
The resistance appears to be attempting to shrink the
supply of foreign workers and militaries supporting
the US occupation and reconstruction of Iraq. With fewer
foreign workers and troops, US forces are forced to
take on more responsibilities, while also fighting insurgents.
Outrage
in Pakistan over Killings in Macedonia
Naeem Khan
05 May 2004
LAHORE, May 5 (OneWorld) - Civil society organizations
in Pakistan have renewed demands to probe government
excesses against civilians in Pakistan and abroad, following
former Yugoslav republic Macedonia's admission that
six innocent Pakistani immigrants were murdered in March
2002 as part of its efforts to aid the US war on terror.
While condemning the killings of the Pakistanis, aged
between 18 and 32, in Macedonia's capital Skopje, a
coalition of civil society groups also accused Pakistani
missions abroad of ill treating illegal immigrants from
this country.
In a joint statement, the Sustainable Development Policy
Institute, the Citizen Peace Committee, the Consumer
Rights Commission of Pakistan and the Pakistan Peace
Committee also appreciated Macedonia's admission of
guilt last week.
"We note with great appreciation that the Macedonian
government itself initiated the investigation against
the murders by its police. It did not try to hush up
the matter or protect the murderers, which it could
have done quite conveniently by just remaining silent
over the issue or by asserting that the action was taken
against terrorists," the statement emphasizes.
Significantly, it also appeals for instituting "free
and fair investigations into the excesses of government
bodies against citizens in Pakistan." It says there
are many complaints that Pakistani missions "treat
immigrants with worse callousness (than other countries'
missions)... Being illegal does not mean they deserve
to be murdered and forgotten. The presence of illegal
immigrants is a testimony to unjust economic policies
pursued by third world governments on the advice of
international funding institutions."
The six Pakistanis were shot dead by the Lions special
force in front of the US embassy in Skopje. Macedonian
authorities claimed they were members of the Al Qaeda
and Taliban, and were plotting attacks on Western missions
in that country. But later, the US Federal Bureau of
Investigation said they were innocent travelers in search
of a better future in Europe.
Macedonia has implicated former interior minister Ljube
Boskovski and framed charges against four police officials
in the case. Boskvoski, a member of the main opposition
party VMRO (Democratic Party of Macedonian National
Union), is to be probed. He had said at the time of
the killings that the men were armed "mujahideen
terrorists" from Pakistan.
To make matters worse, the bodies of the victims --
who hailed from the districts of Gujrat, Gujranwala
and Mandi Bahauddin in the eastern province of Punjab
-- were sent back only in March 2003, almost a year
after their deaths.
The Pakistan government has condemned the "hideous
and condemnable crime", and vowed to seek recompense.
Foreign Office Spokesman Masood Ahmed Khan maintains,
"We will make all efforts to seek justice for the
victims." The ministry has asked Macedonia for
a copy of the inquiry report into the cold-blooded killings.
Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed hints that
the government will demand monetary compensation.
He recalls, "Pakistan had maintained all along
that they were innocent immigrants, not terrorists.
This has now been admitted by the Macedonian authorities.
Their confession vindicates our position and now we
have the right to demand compensation."
While the Pakistan government seems unwilling to put
a figure on the compensation amount, an official of
the nongovernmental organization Ansar Burney Welfare
Trust International aims to seek US $2 million in damages
for each family.
Trust chairman Ansar Burney, who played a key role
in bringing the bodies of the victims to Pakistan, plans
to file the suit in the International Court of Justice
at the Hague. "We will sue the Macedonian government
for US $12 million," he vows.
The chief minister of the victims' home province, Chaudhry
Pervez Elahi, has also asked that the case be brought
before the International Court of Justice. He says the
murdered Pakistanis hailed from impoverished families
and wanted to work abroad.
Interactions with the relatives' family members bear
out Elahi's statement.
An emotional Syed Jaffar Ali Shah, the father of Syed
Bilal Hussain Shah, bitterly snaps that the only sin
his dead son committed was to go abroad in search of
a better future. "He was just an economic refugee,"
emphasizes the father.
The mother of another victim, 22-year-old Umar Farooq,
brokenly recalls that she sold her jewelry, borrowed
money from relatives and spent all her life savings
to send him out of the country. "He was not a terrorist,"
she chants.
Prominent lawyer and former law minister Senator S.
M. Zafar, asked to fight the case by the Punjab chief
minister, says charges against the Macedonian government
will be filed with the European Parliament and the process
will take six months.
As Pakistan's government and civil society begin a
long battle for these casualties of the US war on terror,
the victims' family members are hoping for a miracle
of justice.
Ansar
Burney urges Eritrea to release Pakistanis
ISLAMABAD Nov 25 (NNI)
The international human rights organisation, Ansar Burney
Welfare Trust International, has called on the Eritrean
authorities to immediately release eight Pakistanis
who have been in detention there for the last nine years
on a crime they had never committed.
In a letter to Eritrean authorities in Asmara, Chairman
of the Trust, Ansar Burney, Advocate demanded immediate
release of 8 Pakistanis went to Eritrea on Islamic preach
and arrested in November 1993 from a Mosque in a capital
Asmara.
"The 'Ansar Burney Welfare Trust International'
in the very greater interest of justice and human rights
would like to bring it into Your kind notice that a
Tablighi Jamaat (Muslims Preaching Party) consisting
on 8 members from Pakistan, is in the Prison of Asmara
in Eritrea, since June 1993 and still waiting for their
release from Eritrean Jail, where they kept reportedly
on a crime they never committed." Said a letter.
He said Thse Pakistanis including, Itbar Khan, Haji
Nowshad Khan, Mirza Khan, Mian Muhammad Khan, Hafiz
Saeed Ahmad, Sher Muhammad Khan, Habullah Khan and Hunner
Sher Khan were belongs to Peshawar and Dera Ismail Khan
in Pakistan.
"According to details, the team left for the visit
of 3 countries i.e Ethiopia, Eritrea and Jabooti, respectively
in June 1993 for the Islamic invitation and preach.
After discharging their religious practices and affairs
in Ethiopia this Jamaat applied for the visa of Eritrea
and after taking 45 day's visa this jamaat reach in
the capital of Eritrea i.e Asmara. On 15th November
1993 the 8 Pakistanis were arrested from Khalid Bin
Waleed Mosque in Asmara, and sent to prison, in Eritrea,
on a crime they never committed." Ansar Burney
Trust Letter said.
Six Pakistanis
And One Indian Were Gunned Down to Impress America
By Greg Bearup in Punjab
09 May, 2004 by the
The gaudy mansions of those who've "made it"
look out of place in a sea of poverty, surrounded by
dull, red-brick huts, wallowing buffalo and the stench
of open sewers. Fatima Bibi is a sweeper in one of these
houses, working not for money, but for a bowl of rice
or some flour.
Her employers in this small Punjabi village were once
poor too, just like her. Now they live in relative luxury,
with a satellite dish and a new fridge, because their
son went "to New York to drive taxis".
Macedonia's interior minister Ljube Boskovski listens
to a question during a press-conference in Skopje in
this October 3, 2001 file photo. Macedonia charged the
former interior minister and six security force officers
with murder on April 30, 2004 in connection with a 2002
ambush of what it said were innocent migrants set up
to look like 'Mujahideen terrorists.' The victims, migrants
passing through Macedonia and looking for work in Europe,
were pin-pointed, kidnapped and killed in what security
forces claimed was a coup against global terrorism.
The dead men included six Pakistanis and an Indian.
Their bodies were filmed with handguns stuck in their
waistbands. REUTERS/Ognen Teofilovski/File
But Fatima's son wasn't so lucky. When 20-year-old
Ijaz set off for Europe early in 2002 he carried the
hopes of his family. Ijaz was the second youngest of
the widow's nine children. He ended up "collateral
damage" in the war on terror, gunned down by police
in the Balkan state of Macedonia, who claimed that he
and six others killed were terrorists.
Last week Macedonian officials admitted that this was
a lie, and that the shooting was a staged murder, part
of a clumsy plot to try to impress the US.
"My son, my beautiful son," wailed Fatima,
clutching a photograph of Ijaz. "He was a good
boy who just wanted to make things better for his family.
How could they shoot him down, like a dog? He was a
good Muslim, but he had no time for politics."
This week in the Macedonian capital, Skopje, warrants
were issued for the arrest of the former interior minister,
Ljube Boskovski, in relation to the shooting of Ijaz
and the six others.
Several senior police officers have been charged with
murder. After a lengthy investigation, the Macedonian
authorities have admitted that the six Pakistanis and
one Indian were simply illegal immigrants, trying to
get to Greece to find work on the Olympic sites, or
anywhere else. "This was the act of a sick mind,"
Mirjana Konteska, a Macedonian official, said. "They
lost their lives in a stage murder [so the police and
officials] could present themselves as participants
in the war against terror."
The seven were picked up as they entered Macedonia
through Bulgaria. They were detained for several days
before being driven to a spot en route to the US embassy.
Then they were shot.
Mr Boskovski claimed that his forces had foiled a major
terrorist attack on the US embassy, and that bags of
guns and uniforms were found on the "mojahedin
fighters".
There were inconsistencies in the story from the start.
The police originally said they had been ambushed, but
could not explain why seven heavily armed terrorists
were killed, while the police received no injuries.
They then changed their version of events to say that
they had ambushed the terrorists to prevent them attacking
the American embassy. But the inquiry found otherwise.
The men were shot dead in cold blood. To cover their
tracks, the police placed bags filled with guns and
uniforms next to the bodies.
"I told him not to go," Fatima said, her
last words to her son. "But he was determined and
we'd sold our house to pay the smuggling agent."
As she kissed her son goodbye she slipped two plastic
copies of Koranic verses into the pocket of his coat.
One was the Surah Yaseen, to keep him safe while traveling,
and the other was the Naat De Ali, to give him courage
- just as Catholic mothers would give their departing
sons a symbol of St Christopher. Some of the other mothers
had done the same. The Macedonian police would later
claim the items were terrorist literature.
The deal with the smuggler was that 125,000 rupees
(£1,250) would be paid when Ijaz made it to Turkey,
and the remaining £2,500 when he arrived in Greece.
Ijaz, with the other young men, had valid documents
for Iran, but fakes for the trip from there through
Turkey, Bulgaria, Macedonia and on to Greece.
Ijaz's family was already heavily in debt because he
had made the journey the year before, only to be deported
from Greece. But they thought he would be safe and,
at worst, deported again.
The family rattled off the names of boys from the village
who had made it: Ansar had a good job in a Milan factory,
Mudassar was cleaning fish in Canada. Almost every family
in the district has, or has attempted, to send someone
to the west. "We are very poor," Fatima said.
"The education our children get is not good enough
to get a job. The only way is to leave. Life is good
for the ones who have children in Europe and America.
They have big houses and cars. They have money to marry
their daughters, and then weddings like emperors. My
husband died not long after my last child was born [her
ninth]. My life has been very hard. Ijaz was so happy
to be going to Europe. He would tell me how much money
he was going to send home. He would say I would not
have to sweep floors again."
A Pakistani human rights lawyer, Ansar Burney, raised
money which allowed the six families to pay off their
debts, and he fought a long battle with the Macedonian
authorities to have the bodies returned to Pakistan.
He has now lodged a claim with the international court
of justice in The Hague for $2m (£1,118,000) compensation
for each of the six families. He said he would also
act for the family of the Indian worker killed in the
attack.
"Who knows what other atrocities have been committed
in the name of the war on terror," Mr Burney told
the Guardian. "This whole affair has just been
so incredibly evil." A spokesman from his office
said the Pakistan government had been "unhelpful"
when they first tried to get the bodies back from Macedonia.
"Once they heard the word 'terrorist' they ran
a mile. They didn't want to do anything that would upset
the Americans."
In another village, not far from Fatima's, there are
still more grieving families. "I have four daughters
and only one of them is married," cried Rizia Bibi.
Her son, Umar Farooq, 20, was killed. Rizwan Nawed,
the brother of 22-year-old Subtain Nawed, who was also
killed, said he had a cousin who made it to Greece more
than 10 years ago and is now a shopkeeper. "His
family has bought more land and a tractor and they can
afford to send their children to schools that will get
them to university," he said. "One person
can change the life of all the people - it only takes
one to get out and the future is paved with gold."
Pakistani
rights group takes action against Musharraf
Thursday, December 26, 2002
?A prominent Pakistani human rights group has sent
a legal notice to the President of Pakistan, General
Pervez Musharraf, in which it asked the miliatry dictator
to justify his arrest and handover of more than 400
innocent inmates to the US. In his legal notice to President
Musharraf,, human rights crusader, Ansar Burney, head
of The Ansar Burney Welfare Trust International, strongly
condemned the continuing arrests of innocents by the
FBI and other US security agencies from Pakistan and
their illegal confinement in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
The Trust believes the arrests amount to a clear violation
of Human and Civil Liberties of Pakistanis as well as
against the United Nations charter of Human Rights.
the letter also demanded the repatriation of all prisoners
in US custody and for those whom courts deem necessary,
trial in Pakistan.
Musharraf
served legal notice for handing Pakistanis to US
25 December 2002
A prominent Pakistani human rights group has sent a
legal notice to the President of Pakistan, General Pervez
Musharraf, in which it asked the miliatry dictator to
justify his arrest and handover of more than 400 innocent
inmates to the US.
In his legal notice to President Musharraf, on Wednesday,
human rights crusader, Ansar Burney, head of The Ansar
Burney Welfare Trust International, strongly condemned
the continuing arrests of innocents by the FBI and other
US security agencies from Pakistan and their illegal
confinement in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
The Trust believes the arrests amount to a clear violation
of Human and Civil Liberties of Pakistanis as well as
against the United Nations charter of Human Rights.
"Only to please United States, you have not only
played with Sovereignty, independence and integrity
of Pakistan but you also violated the law of the land,"
the organisation said in the letter. "Such arrests
and their take away from Pakistan bye American Authorities,
without fulfilling legal formalities, are illegal and
mount to be kidnapping of innocent nationals by their
own government."
The letter also demanded the repatriation of all prisoners
in US custody and for those whom courts deem necessary,
trial in Pakistan. "We have no sympathy what so
ever with criminals and justice should definitely be
done with terrorists and hardened criminals, but we
will not allow the arrest of innocents from Pakistan
on the fake name of 'War against Terrorism' and after
their arrest, handing them over to USA. It is the worst
kind of violation of human rights , of the Pakistani
constitution and the law of the land".
Mr Burney added: "Day by day Pakistani nationals
arelosing their sovereignty, independence, integrity,
prosperity and future due to the irresponsible attitude
and behavior of the government towards its own nationals.
Pakistanis are not only unsafe in foreign countries
but not safe in Pakistan."
Fake recruiting
agents
Friday, December 31, 2004
AS MANY as 768 Pakistanis, released from various
jails of Oman, returned home on Wednesday through the
courtesy of Ansar Burney Welfare Trust. Most of them
were allegedly transported to Oman for employment on
fake documents while others were living in the Sultanate
after the expiry of their visas. ABWT’s Sarim
Burney has called for stern legal action against fake
recruiting agents responsible for their ordeal.
This is not the first time that Pakistanis transported
to other countries on fake documents by greedy recruiting
agents have landed back home in a state of disgust and
humiliation. The fake recruiting agents lure innocent
people in thousands every year with rosy depiction of
milk and honey in the employment abroad. The youth barter
away their parents’ life long savings, properties
and gold in their exuberance to go abroad, but invariably
land themselves in trouble the moment they set their
foot on foreign soils because of fake documents. It’s
estimated that tens of thousands of such Pakistanis
transported illegally to other countries are languishing
in their jails over the years. We have repeatedly focused
this issue in these columns to stir the conscience of
the quarters concerned in order to save the country’s
image as well as the poor individuals who invest all
their resources in the hope of a better future through
employment abroad. It’s, however, unfortunate
that the pathetic plight of these Pakistanis and agony
of their hapless parents have failed to invoke action
against the fake recruiting agents who are exploiting
the innocent persons’ ambition for a better future.
It’s really despicable that no fake recruiting
agent has ever been brought to justice for looting the
innocent people and bringing bad name to the country.
The apathy of the Government on this count is obviously
deplorable. It’s established that these agents
operate in connivance with Police, immigration, boat
operators, etc. They all deserve to be taken to task.
Those involved in this heinous trade of transporting
fellow citizens abroad illegally or on fake documents
should be subjected to stern action. It’s hoped
that the Government will wake up from its deep slumber
on the issue and act to punish the culprits. At the
same time, it is imperative that job opportunities be
created in the country to discourage the people from
going abroad as unemployment and poverty are the major
causes for their option to earn their livelihood elsewhere.
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Oman deports
another 640 Pakistanis
Mon, 12 Jun 2000 23:31:15 +0500
Karachi, January 18: A new batch of some 640 Pakistanis
deported by Oman arrived here today, raising to 35,000
the number expelled by the Gulf state for illegal entry
over the past four years, officials said.
The deportees, mostly illiterate people from low income
rural families, came back to Pakistan by boat and were
allowed to go to their homes after brief interrogation
by immigration officials.
Their return was arranged by a local welfare group,
the Ansar Burney Trust, which said many were lured by
local people smugglers known as travel agents for jobs
abroad. Many of them were in bad shape.
"Most of them were uneducated and sold their belongings,
or had taken loans from friends to go abroad in search
of a better life, but fell victim to the travel agents,
who are hardly punished," trust official Mehnaz
Anwar said.
Hundreds
of Pakistanis deported by Oman return home
India Monitor
Friday, December 31, 2004,Karachi: A cargo
ship today brought home 758 Pakistanis who were deported
by Oman for allegedly entering the country illegally
and working without permission, an official said.
The ship arrived at the southern Pakistani port of Karachi
after setting sail two days ago from Muscat in Oman,
said Abdul Sattar Mansoori, an inspector with the federal
investigation agency, which deals with immigration issues
in Pakistan.
Ansar Burney Welfare Trust, a Pakistani charity helping
to repatriate the deportees, gave food and plastic shoes
to some of the men, trust spokesman Sarim Burney said.
Mansoori said the people who returned from Oman would
be freed after brief questioning.
Hundreds of Pakistanis travel to the oil-rich countries
in the middle east to find work, many of them paying
smugglers to help them reach there, often without visas.
Sarim said last month that some 36,000 Pakistanis were
deported by Oman since June 2003.
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