ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Senate Standing Committee on Interior on Tuesday discussed increasing the minimum sentence for human smuggling to three years, as the country’s foreign office confirmed the identity of 13 Pakistanis who died last month in a boat tragedy off Morocco’s coast.
The Pakistani government has made several arrests in recent weeks after a boat carrying 86 migrants to Europe, including several Pakistanis, capsized near Morocco on January 16, according to the rights group Walking Borders.
Moroccan authorities said a day later that 36 people had been rescued, while the foreign office in Islamabad confirmed that the survivors included 22 Pakistanis.
The Morocco tragedy underscored the perilous journeys many migrants undertake due to conflict and economic hardship. Soon after the development, Pakistani authorities ramped up efforts to crack down on human smuggling networks facilitating dangerous crossings to Europe.
“The Committee discussed the ‘Prevention of Smuggling of Migrants (Amendment) Bill, 2025,’” an official statement said after the meeting was convened at Parliament House in Islamabad. “The Secretary, Ministry of Interior, emphasized the need to strengthen legal provisions to enhance deterrence.”
“The draftsman from the Ministry of Law informed the Committee that the amendment introduces a minimum sentence of three years, which will reinforce deterrence and ensure better enforcement of the law,” the statement continued. “The Committee members unanimously agreed to pass the bill and underscored the importance of strict adherence to legal enforcement.”
The Senate committee also reviewed other legislative measures related to migration and trafficking.
Meanwhile, the foreign office spokesperson, Shafqat Ali Khan, mentioned the boat tragedy in a statement.
“After a process of extensive verification, the bodies of 13 Pakistani nationals have been identified,” he said, adding the mortal remains of four victims would arrive in Islamabad on February 5 via a Saudi airline flight.
The latest tragedy adds to a series of migrant boat disasters involving Pakistanis attempting to reach Europe via dangerous sea routes.
In June 2023, an overcrowded vessel sank in international waters off the Greek town of Pylos, killing hundreds of migrants, including 262 Pakistanis, in one of the deadliest Mediterranean shipwrecks on record.
More recently, five Pakistani nationals died in a shipwreck off the Greek island of Gavdos on December 14.
Senators back tougher human smuggling laws as 13 Pakistanis identified in Morocco boat tragedy
https://arab.news/z67ac
Senators back tougher human smuggling laws as 13 Pakistanis identified in Morocco boat tragedy
- Senate Standing Committee on Interior suggests minimum sentence of three years for human smugglers
- Foreign office says the mortal remains of four victims of Morocco boat tragedy will soon arrive in Islamabad
Pakistani politicians urge dialogue with Imran Khan’s party as PM offers talks
- National Dialogue Committee group organizes summit attended by prominent lawyers, politicians and journalists in Islamabad
- Participants urge government to lift alleged ban on political activities and media restrictions, form committee for negotiations
ISLAMABAD: Participants of a meeting featuring prominent politicians, lawyers and civil society members on Wednesday urged the government to initiate talks with former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, lift alleged bans on political activities after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif recently invited the PTI for talks.
The summit was organized by the National Dialogue Committee (NDC), a political group formed last month by former PTI members Chaudhry Fawad Husain, ex-Sindh governor Imran Ismail and Mehmood Moulvi. The NDC has called for efforts to ease political tensions in the country and facilitate dialogue between the government and Khan’s party.
The development takes place amid rising tensions between the PTI and Pakistan’s military and government. Khan, who remains in jail on a slew of charges he says are politically motivated, blames the military and the government for colluding to keep him away from power by rigging the 2024 general election and implicating him in false cases. Both deny his allegations.
Since Khan was ousted in a parliamentary vote in April 2022, the PTI has complained of a widespread state crackdown, while Khan and his senior party colleagues have been embroiled in dozens of legal cases. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif last month invited the PTI for talks during a meeting of the federal cabinet, saying harmony among political forces was essential for the country’s progress.
“The prime objective of the dialogue is that we want to bring the political temperatures down,” Ismail told Arab News after the conference concluded.
“At the moment, the heat is so much that people— especially in politics— they do not want to sit across the table and discuss the pertaining issues of Pakistan which is blocking the way for investment.”
Former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, who heads the Awaam Pakistan political party, attended the summit along with Jamaat-e-Islami senior leader Liaquat Baloch, Muttahida Quami Movement-Pakistan’s Waseem Akhtar and Haroon Ur Rashid, president of the Supreme Court Bar Association. Journalists Asma Shirazi and Fahd Husain also attended the meeting.
Members of the Pakistan Peoples Party, the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the PTI did not attend the gathering.
The NDC urged Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, President Asif Ali Zardari and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif to initiate talks with the opposition. It said after the government forms its team, the NDC will announce the names of the opposition negotiating team after holding consultations with its jailed members.
“Let us create some environment. Let us bring some temperatures down and then we will do it,” Ismail said regarding a potential meeting with the jailed Khan.
Muhammad Ali Saif, a former adviser to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister, told participants of the meeting that Pakistan was currently in a “dysfunctional state” due to extreme political polarization.
“The tension between the PTI and the institutions, particularly the army, at the moment is the most fundamental, the most prominent and the most crucial issue,” Saif noted.
‘CHANGED FACES’
The summit proposed six specific confidence-building measures. These included lifting an alleged ban on political activities and the appointment of the leaders of opposition in Pakistan’s Senate and National Assembly.
The joint communique called for the immediate release of women political prisoners, such as Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi and PTI leader Yasmin Rashid, and the withdrawal of cases against supporters of political parties.
The communiqué also called for an end to media censorship and proposed that the government and opposition should “neither use the Pakistan Armed Forces for their politics nor engage in negative propaganda against them.”
Amir Khan, an overseas Pakistani businessperson, complained that frequent political changes in the country had undermined investors’ confidence.
“I came here with investment ideas, I came to know that faces have changed after a year,” Amir Khan said, referring to the frequent change in government personnel.
Khan’s party, on the other hand, has been calling for a “meaningful” political dialogue with the government.
However, it has accused the government of denying PTI members meetings with Khan in the Rawalpindi prison where he remains incarcerated.
“For dialogue to be meaningful, it is essential that these authorized representatives are allowed regular and unhindered access to Imran Khan so that any engagement accurately reflects his views and PTI’s collective position,” PTI leader Azhar Leghari told Arab News last week.
