A lawyers’ body has sent a letter to President Arif Alvi and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, demanding judicial investigation into the Greece boat incident in which hundreds of Pakistanis are feared dead. Judicial Activism Panel head Azhar Siddique has sent the letter, stating a judicial commission comprising three judges of the Supreme Court should be made to unearth the facts. Saying citizens have right to information under Article 9 of the Constitution, he said reasons behind the boat disaster should be investigated and elements involved in it must be pinpointed. Earlier this week, Pakistan observed a national day of mourning on Monday for the victims of last week's shipwreck off the coast of Greece, in which hundreds of Pakistani nationals are feared to have died.

Local media say more than 200 Pakistani nationals were among an estimated 750 people on board the fishing trawler heading for Europe when the vessel sank on Wednesday, June 14, off the Peloponnese peninsula. At least 20 of those missing were from the city of Gujranwala, in Punjab province. Among them was Amir Malik’s cousin Mohsin, who left a voice note as he boarded the boat in Libya’s Tobruk on June 9. “Once he arrived in Libya, the smugglers took his phone. We had no choice but to go through the smuggler to be in contact with him,” Malik said. “That's how we learned that he was not going to go to Europe by plane but illegally, by boat. Mohsin told us: 'I am trapped, I have no choice but to follow them.'”

Meanwhile, Pakistani authorities have arrested several suspects involved in human smuggling following the boat incident as crackdown is underway against them.

 
Credit : Independent News Pakistan-INP