During the hearing of petitions against child human smuggling in the Supreme Court, Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Omar Ata Bandial, remarked that it was the responsibility of the police to prevent human smuggling, and the government should formulate policies to curb human smuggling.
The incident of the Greek boat tragedy was also mentioned during the hearing in the Supreme Court. The Chief Justice said that the boat incident in Greece is a matter of human rights as innocent citizens are lured into foreign employment scams, and they end up losing hundreds of thousands of rupees.
The Chief Justice stated that human smuggling is also occurring in the country, affecting women and children. He questioned whether the government has any statistics on child smuggling.
In response, the Director-General of the Ministry of Human Rights stated that unfortunately, accurate data is not available.
The Chief Justice mentioned that there is ambiguity in the 2018 law regarding human smuggling, and there should also be no lack of specialist forces for the implementation of basic laws.
The Chief Justice said that the work of stopping human trafficking was also the responsibility of the police, the Supreme Court asked the provincial governments to play their role.
The Supreme Court heard the Tayyaba torture case some time ago, the young domestic worker Tayyaba is now a bright student of the ninth grade. The aim is not only to protect children but also to make them strong.
The Chief Justice stated that we need to educate society, as it is our religious duty to protect society from class divisions. Enforcing the role of a mother is not solely the government’s responsibility. The government needs to formulate policies to prevent human smuggling. Instead of engaging in child labor, children should be in schools. There is a need for implementation of policies and measures to curb human smuggling.
The court has requested reports on measures taken by the provinces to prevent human smuggling and has adjourned the hearing of the case seeking information on the number of deprived children in education for one month.
