On Sunday, Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif stablished a committee to probe the incident of a migrant boat that capsized off the coast of Greece, killing at least 79 people. Sharif instructed law enforcement agencies to trace those involved in human smuggling in Pakistan.
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"In an unfortunate incident on June 14, a boat carrying migrants capsized off the coast of Greece, resulting in the deaths of Pakistani nationals along with other nationals. The number of casualties is still being ascertained," says an official statement released by the prime minister's office.
According to the statement, the committee was tasked with identifying loopholes and lapses in the law enforcement mechanism, which led to Pakistanis being exposed to human trafficking in this case and other similar cases of the past.
According to the prime minister's office, Sharif has ordered a day of mourning on Monday, with the national flag to be flown at half-mast, in order to grief the deceased of the “tragic accident.”
Official reports state that Pakistan authorities have arrested 10 alleged human traffickers and that Sharif has said that “they would be severely punished.”
The federal investigation agency arrested the suspected human traffickers from different parts of Kashmir and another from Karachi airport who was trying to flee abroad.
The 10 suspected traffickers “are presently under investigation for their involvement in facilitating the entire process”, said Chaudhary Shaukat, official from Kashmir.
Reports state that the police are interrogating them for their alleged roles in “luring, trapping and sending locals abroad after extracting huge amounts of money from them.”