Pakistan Observer (09/02/2006)
Mahmood Hussain

Islamabad—A boat carrying as many as 725 Pakistanis arrested and deported by the Oman government, reached back home early Wednesday morning at Ghas Bander, Keamari at Karachi.

Ansar Burney Trust had made the deportation arrangement.

They travelled in boat Al-Mohammadi 2, packed like sardines by the Omani authorities. Some of them were sick. The Ansar Burney Trust International on their arrival provided them food and new clothes. They were released one by one after the FIA immigration checked there travelling documents issued by the Pakistan Embassy at Muscat. At their arrival from Muscat, Ansar Burney Trust provided these deportees money and food. Describing their condition, Fahad Burney Trust’s Vice Chairman said that they had been in jails for different periods of times — from days to years — where their condition had deteriorated due to malnutrition and lack of basic facilities.

Upon their arrival, they offered thanksgiving prayers. Those who arrived were in a pathetic condition.

The job seekers, most of them illiterate and hailing from upcountry, had been trafficked to the Gulf state through Taftan, crossing the Pakistan-Iran border illegally near Mand Ballu. They paid the human traffickers different amounts, ranging from Pak Rs 5,000 to 70,000. Some of them were elderly or children.

According to the deportees, they travelled in the human traffickers’ vehicles in batches of 30 to 40 each for two days to reach an Iranian border town, Jaishak. After an overnight stay, they again set out and reached another town within another two days. Afterwards, they were taken in other vehicles to a jetty where they were herded into small launches. After a 10-hour ocean voyage, they were abandoned on the coast.

The job seekers, most of them barefooted, returned with no personal belongings or documents with them, except the emergency travelling documents issued by the Pakistani mission in Muscat.

According to sources, thousands of people are still on the Pakistan-Iran border and their ultimate destination is Muscat and after entering illegally, they would travel to UAE and other Middle Eastern countries by road.

According to the Ansar Burney Welfare Trust International, over 100,000 Pakistanis have been deported during the last two years.

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