Foreign and Interior Ministries Ordered to Ensure Prompt Assistance to Affected Individuals
Vice Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar has instructed the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Interior to ensure timely and effective assistance to the victims of the Moroccan boat tragedy.
According to a report by the state news agency APP, the Foreign Office issued a press release stating that a detailed review of the boat accident off the coast of Morocco, which resulted in numerous fatalities, was conducted in a meeting chaired by Ishaq Dar. The meeting also addressed the issue of Afghan citizens’ transfer to third countries. The session was attended by the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Secretary of Interior, and other officials.
Ishaq Dar, on this occasion, issued directives to coordinate the government’s response, ensuring that timely aid is provided to Pakistani victims of the tragedy.
It is important to note that on January 16, it was reported that a boat carrying migrants had capsized in the Atlantic Ocean between Morocco and Mauritania, resulting in the deaths of 50 people, including 44 Pakistanis.
According to a report in Dawn newspaper, a high-level government team will be sent to Morocco today to assess the situation and identify the Pakistani nationals who lost their lives in the incident.
Sources confirmed that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had decided to send a government team to Morocco, which will include additional officials such as the Additional Director General (North) of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Muneer Marth, Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Interior, Salman Chaudhry, and representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Intelligence Bureau.
The team will visit Rabat, the capital of Morocco, and the affected areas to gather information and prepare a detailed report to present to the Prime Minister.
Meanwhile, the FIA has registered three cases against individuals involved in human trafficking. The FIA crime circles in Gujranwala and Gujarat have filed cases against human traffickers from Gujrat and Sialkot.
Victims are also from Sialkot and Mandi Bahauddin. According to an FIR filed on Friday, Shabnam Irfan, a resident of Budha Goria village in Sialkot, accused local agent Asghar Sindhi and his accomplice Rana Osama of taking 4 million rupees to send her husband Irfan and her brother Mohammad Arsalan to Europe. The agent had promised to send them to Spain via air travel, but they were sent to Ethiopia, Senegal, and Mauritania before being placed on a boat that ultimately capsized.
