CAIRO: Security authorities in eastern Libya freed at least 385 Pakistani migrants who were held in trafficking warehouses in an overnight raid, a migrant rights group said Monday.
Al-Abreen, a group which helps migrants in Libya, said the Pakistani nationals were released early Monday from smugglers’ warehouses in the Al-Khueir area, roughly 5 miles (8 kilometers) south of the eastern Libyan city of Tobruk. The migrants — among them children — were later transferred to a nearby police headquarters, it said in a post on its official Facebook page.
Esreiwa Salah, an activist with Al-Abreen, told The Associated Press the Pakistani migrants arrived in Libya intending to travel to Europe but were detained by smugglers who demanded a ransom for their release. No further details were given.
Several pictures posted on Al-Abreen’s Facebook page showed dozens of purportedly freed Pakistani migrants sitting outside of a warehouse.
Libya is the dominant transit point for migrants from Africa and the Middle East trying to make it to Europe. The country plunged into chaos following a NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed longtime autocrat Muammar Qaddafi in 2011. Oil-rich Libya has been ruled for most of the past decade by rival governments in eastern and western Libya, each backed by an array of militias and foreign governments.
Human traffickers have benefited from the decade of instability, smuggling migrants across borders from six nations, including Egypt, Algeria and Sudan. They then pack desperate migrants seeking a better life in Europe into ill-equipped rubber boats and other vessels for risky voyages on the perilous Central Mediterranean Sea route.
A vessel that departed from Libya carrying an estimated 700 migrants, including about 350 Pakistanis, sank of the Greek coast in June. Only 104 people, including 12 Pakistanis, were rescued.
Pakistan is experiencing an economic crisis that is driving thousands of mostly young men to seek work abroad. Many travel to Libya with the hope of eventually reaching European shores.
Nearly 400 Pakistani migrants were freed in raid on Libyan trafficking warehouse, rights group says
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Nearly 400 Pakistani migrants were freed in raid on Libyan trafficking warehouse, rights group says
- Migrants were planning to travel to Europe by boat but were detained by smugglers who demanded a ransom for their release
India rolls out free HPV vaccines to combat cervical cancer
- Nationwide HPV vaccination campaign targets 11.5 million 14-year-old girls annually
- India records about 80,000 cervical cancer deaths, 120,000 new cases every year
NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a free HPV vaccination drive on Saturday for young girls across India, which has the world’s highest rate of cervical cancer deaths.
India records around 120,000 new cases of cervical cancer annually and around 80,000 deaths. It is the second-most-common cancer among women in the country.
India has the highest number of cervical cancer deaths, followed by China and Indonesia. The number of cases in India is the second highest globally, after China.
With cervical cancer largely preventable through HPV vaccination and regular screening, the new campaign aims to vaccinate around 11.5 million 14-year-old Indian girls annually.
“The prime minister launched the nationwide HPV vaccination campaign … describing it as a pivotal step toward empowering India’s ‘Nari Shakti’ (women power) and ensuring the health of mothers and daughters,” Modi’s office said in a statement.
Under the campaign, a dose of HPV vaccine will be provided free of cost at all government health centers across the country for all 14-year-old girls, said Anupriya Satel, minister of state for health and family welfare.
“This initiative is a historic step towards protecting our adolescent girls from serious diseases like cervical cancer,” she wrote on X.
The launch event, which took place in the northern city of Ajmer, also saw a few young girls receiving the HPV vaccine on stage.
The vaccination is a “powerful preventive step that can save lives,” according to a statement from India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, which also said that HPV vaccinations can help families “secure a healthier, cancer-free future for India’s daughters.”
