Pakistan president addresses joint session of parliament amid protest from opposition lawmakers

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) announced on Monday that it has arrested the main suspect in the 2024 Greek boat tragedy, vowing to continue its crackdown against human traffickers who send people to Europe and other countries on illegal sea journeys. 

The incident took place in December 2024 when four Pakistanis died after a migrant boat they were on sank near the Greek island of Crete. Each year, thousands of Pakistanis pay large sums for risky and illegal journeys to developed countries, hoping to find work and send money back to their families. 

The FIA said its team arrested the main suspect, Usman Jaja, from the eastern city of Sialkot. The agency said he had gone into hiding since the Greek boat tragedy took place in December last year. 

“Suspect Usman Jaja tried to send several citizens to Europe via boat,” the FIA said in a statement. “The boat met with an accident in which several youths died.”

The FIA said Jaja was wanted by the FIA’s Gujranwala chapter in more than eight cases, alleging that he was part of an international gang of human traffickers. The agency said it has started an investigation against the suspect, adding that raids are being conducted to arrest others involved with him as well. 

“Our crackdown against elements involved in boat accidents is underway,” FIA Gujranwala Director Abdul Qadir Qamar was quoted as saying by the agency. “All resources are being used to arrest the suspects.”

He said the agency’s intelligence-based operations against human traffickers are underway, vowing that no one would be allowed to play with the lives of innocent people. 

In 2023, hundreds of migrants, including 262 Pakistanis, drowned when an overcrowded vessel capsized and sank in international waters off the southwestern Greek coastal town of Pylos. It was one of the deadliest boat disasters ever recorded in the Mediterranean Sea.

Greece was a favored gateway to the European Union for migrants and refugees from the Middle East, Africa and Asia in 2015-2016, when nearly 1 million people landed on its islands, mostly via inflatable dinghies.

Incidents with migrant boats and shipwrecks off Crete and its tiny neighbor Gavdos, which are relatively isolated in the central Mediterranean, have increased since 2023.

QUETTA: Unidentified gunmen in southwestern Pakistan shot dead three barbers who hailed from Sindh on Sunday, a soldier of the paramilitary Levies force confirmed, amid a surge in ethnic attacks in the restive Balochistan province. 

Attacks by ethnic Baloch separatist militants against Punjab-based laborers, barbers and commuters are common in the southwestern province. Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province by landmass and rich in mineral resources, has long faced a low-level insurgency led by separatist groups like the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), who accuse Islamabad of exploiting the province’s natural resources for the development of Punjab while neglecting the local population. Pakistan’s government denies these allegations, saying it has prioritized Balochistan’s development through investments in health, education, and infrastructure projects.

The latest attack took place in Gwargo, an area located around five kilometers away from Balochistan’s Panjgur district, Levies soldier Shakeel Baloch said. He added that unidentified armed men shot the barbers while they were sitting outside a hotel on Sunday evening. 

“Three barbers who belonged to Mirpurkhas and Jacobabad districts of Sindh province were killed on the spot,” Baloch told Arab News. 

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack but suspicion is likely to fall on the BLA, which has carried out attacks against Punjabi laborers and barbers in the past. 

Balochistan government spokesperson Shahid Rind strongly condemned the attack, describing the development as a “barbaric” move by the militants. 

“Terrorists have been attempting to create divisions and hate among provinces by targeting laborers who are working in Balochistan,” Rind said. 

He said security forces had started tracking the “terrorists” involved in the attack. 

Balochistan has seen a surge in ethnic attacks over the past few months as the province’s security situation deteriorates. Seven Punjab-based passengers were forcibly removed from a bus heading to the eastern city of Faisalabad from Quetta and killed by a group of gunmen in Balochistan last month. 

In August 2024, nearly two dozen passengers traveling in Punjab-bound buses were killed after BLA militants forcibly removed ethnic Punjabi commuters from buses after checking their identity cards.

In May 2024, gunmen shot dead seven Punjab-based barbers who lived and worked together near the port city of Gwadar in Balochistan.