Human trafficking: A global security concern

Kids used for prostitution and terrorism

Tayyaba Khurshid

One of the leading problems of the globalized world that has increased over time is human trafficking. It has increased in all parts of the world, specially Africa, Asia and europe. It involves kidnapping, trapping or sending individuals from one place to another either within state or outside.

The individuals of underdeveloped states are trapped and manipulated in the name of a good job and attractive salary, and are sent to various countries where they are forced and coerced into labour, sex and other illegal activities. In many cases, the girls are even trafficked through proper channels of marriage but once they reach the country of destination, they are forced into prostitution and other immoral practices.

The victims of human trafficking are not limited to adults, but many children are kidnapped by certain radical groups and trained for terrorist activities. The trafficked individuals face physical and psychological torture and end up in emotional trauma. The women who are trafficked to run the illegal sex industries end up in sexually transmitted diseases and other reproductive health issues. Only Pakistan alone has many reported cases of trafficked individuals and there are many who were never able to escape and tell the world about the inhumanity they have faced in the hands of traffickers.

Human trafficking has increased in Pakistan where many cases of Pakistani women came to the forefront who were trafficked to China in thename of marriage and later were used in China for illegal activities. The story of 27-yearold natasha Khokhar is a living example of such exploitation where she was married off to a Chinese man whereshe was forced to live in isolation and pressured to get pregnant. Fortunately, she was able to return back and took divorce by contacting the authorities and was able to share her story.

Another Pakistani Christian woman named Samiya David spent two months in China when her parents sold her to a Chinese man where she was tortured and abused. On her return to Pakistan, she was malnourished, disjointed and confused and was unable to talk properly.

The lack of economic opportunities and education has also contributed towards kidnapping and servitude and Muhammad Arif is the one who was abducted and forced to work in quarries for more than 20 years after which he managed to escape. The 20 years of life will never come back to him and he said he will live the rest of life in trauma as he spent 20 years in misery.

Humanity sinks to a new low along with increased cases of human trafficking in Pakistan.

Another heart wrenching story of a 14-year-old girl living in the north West region of KPK reveals the curse of human trafficking. Kanwal Shah on her return home from school was kidnapped by a couple of unknown men. She woke up in a brothel in Khanpur where she was forced into prostitution.

When she refused she was tortured by the owner and sexually abused. She remained there for six years after which she was able to escape with the help of a member of a brothel.

In some cases the trafficked men are sent to conflict-ridden areas to be used for militancy. The seven-year-old Affan was kidnapped by his Madrassah teacher in Gujranwala, and sent to a village in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. There he was given his first weapon and extensively trained for suicide missions. Affan was lucky to be rescued by one of his uncles but there are many who spend their whole lives in the hope of being rescued.

Another 17-year-old girl Asiya was kidnapped from her village near Sahiwal by a Sahiwal-based terrorist group. She was tortured and gangraped and tossed into a room with other girls. She turned to drugs to numb her senses but when the numbness of drugs ended she always felt as if her life had ended before it had even begun. She said that she would forget the humiliation, the disgrace and the torture she had suffered after she would take drug.

There are millions of people who were unable to get back to their families and hence their stories untold and those who were able to escape the torture reveal the worst side of humanity.

Pakistan has been identified as the main source of women trafficked globally. The wide prevalence of such crimes can be attributed to poverty, economic deprivation and lack of education. Although the government is institutionalizing the counter measures against human trafficking and other illegal crimes, the issue is still unsolved. The issue cannot be catered by individual states because the traffickers are not limited to a single state but they are running their mafias in various states, and therefore collective cooperation by all states is required. It’s not a national but transnational crime and hence could only be solved by transnational actors. The developed states like the USA have also taken the lead, and its Trafficking and Violence Protection Act was formed which helped the foreign governments to draft various anti-trafficking laws, strengthen the investigation procedures of culprits, persecuting the offenders and rescuing the victims.

Although legal procedures exist to control human trafficking, the increasing number of cases each year throughout the world reveal the inability of states to address the problem. All states and global and regional actors including International non-governmental organizations should join hands for the common cause of humanity and work collectively to preserve human dignity and respect.

The writer is a Researcher at the Center For International Strategic Studies, AJK, and can be reached attayaba.khan127@gmail.com and unwilling to recognize Palestinian rights. Because the USA has historically coddled successive Israeli governments, never enforcing limits to their unlawful behaviour, the Israelis in power today act with a sense of impunity. They are out of control.

For their part, because the PA has been so weakened by its inability to deliver on the “promise of peace” and because it has repeatedly endured humiliation at the hands of the US and Israel, it has lost the respect of angry constituents who now want to strike back when struck. It too is out of control.

The problem is that for decades the US approach to “peace” has consisted of nothing more than insisting that Palestinians crack down on their extremists— even if it meant civil war— but has placed no such demand on Israel to forcibly subdue its extremists. The result is what we have today: an extremist Israeli government hell-bent on subduing the last vestiges of Palestinian dignity and a discredited Palestinian Authority incapable of controlling its people’s anger.

Given this state of affairs, it was at best a fool’s errand for the USA to assume that the Aqaba proposals would create calm. Instead of placing a bandage on a festering wound, the USA should have used a scalpel to attack the root problems: the Israelis’ sense of entitlement and impunity and Palestinians’ anger at the abuse they continue to endure.

Only when the USA establishes firm red lines for Israel and makes clear that there will be concrete negative consequences for continued bad behaviour will we be able to arrest the downward spiral of violence, foster a new direction in Israel’s internal debate, and give the Palestinians a sense of hope that their plight is recognized and will be addressed. Change won’t come overnight. But bad policy has been digging this hole for decades; getting out of this mess will take courage, resolve, and vision.

Until then, it’s safe to assume that we will be witnessing very difficult days ahead.

The writer is President of the Arab American Institute

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Telecom sharks

FOr telecommunication companies, Pakistan is a jungle in letter and in spirit as there is nobody to hold them accountable for their poor and customer-unfriendly services. The customers are at their mercy.

Almost every subscriber of theirs has gone through this excruciating experience when the prepaid balance evaporates without any knowledge or willingness of the users. A promo message alerts the users that a certain service has been subscribed to their account, and this much amount has been deducted. Many of us have tried to talk to the helpline to lodge our complaints, but that is another ordeal because the callers are put on hold till, as they say, the cows come home. A robotic voice greets us. After choosing from a list of options, we manage to troubleshoot our concerns with the help of that robotic voice. After a long wait while constantly sticking our mobile phone to our ear, the luckier of us get access to the customer care representative. We speak our heart out to them, but they quite indifferently put the whole blame on the callers, telling them that they must have subscribed to the promos or advertisements. Despite earnest assurances to the contrary, we are told that if we follow the directions sent via text messages, we will not receive that particular promo or advertisement, and, hence, no deduction will be made in the future.

But just days later, it happens all over again; the balance again starts leaking. The irony is that the customers are asked to unsubscribe the service they have been tethered to unknowingly and involuntarily. To add insult to injury, we are made to wait even when the call to the helpline is paid or extra charges are to be paid to talk to the customer care representative. Though we are apprised by the pre-recorded automatic voice that our call will be recorded for ‘quality of service’, nobody cares about the jugglery and chicanery on the part of the company representatives.

The telecommunication companies must be reined in from deducting even a single penny from the customers’ balance without their prior approval. Secondly, the telecommunication companies must facilitate customers’ access to their call centres; lodging a complaint should not be cumbersome. Another avoidable nuisance that these companies cause is their promo texts and calls at odd hours. Sometimes we happen to await a call on some urgent matter and there comes a call or a text from these companies advertising their services.

It is suggested that the companies either specify the time window for their promo calls and messages, or attribute a particular ringtone to their promos to save their customers from any distur-bance. All their manoeuvres need to be user-friendly, not money-minting.

M NADEEM NADIR KASUR

Misuse of courts

OVer the last few months, squabbling political parties have all but hijacked the judicial system. every day we read of courts being asked to provide judgements on this or that political issue, or to deal with the arrest or bail of this or that political bigwig.

The courts are there to provide judgement on criminal cases, hand down punishments to those found guilty, and to adjudicate civil disputes. Clogging up the courts with political matters just makes life even more miserable for the tens of thousands of people awaiting trial on criminal charges, and for businesses and private citizens who are awaiting decisions related to commercial transactions, property matters, inheritance issues and divorce settlements. One may also see the decision to court arrests by the main opposition party in the same light. The prisons in Pakistan are chronically under-funded and under-staffed. Increasing the number of inmates with political workers will make life even more difficult for staff and inmates. Besides, the judiciary now has to take care of the various cases seeking release of those who courted arrest on their own. The ultimate sufferers are the people.