By Tahir Siddiqui
11/11/2004 Dawn News

KARACHI, Nov 10: As many as 602 deported job-seekers reached here on Wednesday by a cargo launch, raising the total number of Pakistanis deported from Muscat during the current year to more than 7,420.

The jobseekers, almost all of them illiterate, had been smuggled to the Gulf state through Taftan crossing the Pakistan- Iran border illegally near Mand Ballu. They paid the human traffickers different amounts ranging from Rs5,000 to Rs15,000.

The Al-Fajr, owned by a Dubai-based Arab, was the fourth cargo launch carrying deportees from the Gulf state that reached here this month.

Dirt was on them like plasters, as most of them remained in prison for several days before they were crammed into the cargo launch, which had neither life boat nor life jackets.

Except the emergency passports issued by the Pakistani mission in Oman, the deportees, most of whom were bare-footed, had no personal belongings or luggage.

Official figures showed that 2,794 jobseekers had reached here after being deported from Muscat this month, while another batch of over 700 deportees were scheduled to reach here on Thursday.

The deportees, who did not fast during their three-day voyage, had to wait for hours to get through the immigration process though a strong of FIA immigration and passport circle staffers were deputed at Ghas Bandar.

Exhausted by hunger and thirst, the deportees had a sigh of relief when they found Ansar Burney Trust vehicles there with drinking water and food for them. They were released one by one after the FIA checked their emergency passports.

The racket of human smuggling to Muscat from Mand Ballu, Balochistan, has been ruthlessly playing with the lives of innocent jobseekers for the past several years.

According to deportees, they travelled in the human traffickers' vehicles in the batches of 22 each for two days to reach an Iranian border town, Jaishak. After an overnight stay, they again set out and reach another town in further two days. Afterwards, they were taken in other vehicles to a jetty where they were herded into small launches. After a 10-hour sail, they were abandoned in the coastal area near Muscat, where authorities round them up and send them to jails.

Pakistani captain of the Al-Fajr, Dur Mohammad, said that this launch was previously used for the transportation of mango, onion and fodder. "It was really a difficult task to sail with so many people as the launch has the capacity for only 200 passengers," he said.

He said that the Muscat authorities had provided 15,000 loaves and 1,080 tins of beans for the deportees for their 48- hour voyage.

Shah Nawaz, 23, who hailed from Rajanpur, said that he reached Karachi after he was told in his area about the prospects of going to Muscat through launch. He said that he went to the Lea Market and boarded a Mand Ballu-bound bus. "We were handed over to an Iranian agent who boarded us on a launch for Muscat," he said.

Some of them were newly-wed and they had to sell out their wives' jewellery in the hope of better future, while most of the jobseekers had borrowed money. They identified their respective agents as Raees, Maula Bukhsh, Yousuf, Anver, Mehmood and Haji Bukhsh, who was an Iranian.

Imam Bukhsh Brohi, a young man from Shikarpur, said that he came Karachi on Aug 10. "I along with five others boarded a bus from Lea Market for Mand Ballu. Later, we were shifted to Jaishak in a pick-up," he said.

He further said that his batch of 22 people were crammed into a launch and they reached the coast of Muscat after a nine-hour voyage. "The launch left after we disembarked at night. There was nothing but darkness all along and we were caught by police in the morning," he said.

The deportee said that he and others were confined at a nearby police kiosk for eight days before they were shifted to Barkah Jail. He remained in jail for nine more days.

Mohammad Khalil, belonging to Dera Ghazi Khan, said that he had come to Karachi two months ago. "I sold my camel for Rs13,000 to manage my journey to Muscat. There, I got a job of camel caretaker with an Arab. I worked for a month, but my employer refused to pay me and I left his place. I was still on a look-out when the authorities caught me," he said.

Habib Ahmed, a 22-year-old man from Mardan, said that the operators of buses at Lea Market had their own agents, who charge Rs9,000 for taking a job-seeker to Muscat.

Akhtar Ali, hailing from Swabi, was the only matriculate among the deportees. He said that he had paid Rs10,000 to an agent, Taoos Khan. He had spent 17 days on the deserted mountains near the coast after being smuggled into the Gulf state, he added.

According to the deportees, there are over 1,100 more Pakistani jobseekers still confined in the Sahaar Jail in miserable conditions. They also complained of mistreatment on part of the jail authorities in Muscat.

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