Role of FIA in Combating Human Smuggling at Pak-Afghan Border, Torkham

Abstract

Human smuggling refers to illegal cross of international border by an individual or group of individuals by violating immigration law of one or more countries/states, travelling alone/in groups or through human smugglers (organized criminal groups) and with their own consent/will, on payment of a certain amount to smuggler mutually agreed upon. Such illegal cross of borders is also called irregular migration or migrant smuggling. The person facilitating the said process is called “smuggler” and the effected persons are called victim. The smuggling of migrants is truly a global concern, with a large number of countries affected by it as origin, transit or destination points. Profit seeking criminals smuggle migrants across borders and between continents for the sake of monetary benefit by facilitating the intentional illegal crossover of victims, based on certain reason/back ground of victims, like political unrest in certain territories, natural disasters, sectarian and ethnic issues and for search of a better life abroad. The land route crossing points between Pakistan and Afghanistan, particularly Torkham in KPK is an old crossing point for pedestrian movement. The enforcement of passport/visa regime in the year 2015 has changed the traditional mode (without passport/visa) of crossover into a formal movement. With such legal restriction, the movement without documents or without fulfillment of terms & conditions for entry into Pakistan and exit from Pakistan is of course illegal act and constitute the offence of human or migrant smuggling. This research is aimed to understand the role of Federal Investigation Agency in combating Human Smuggling at Pak-Afghan Border, Torkham land route, District: Khyber, KPK. This research will assist FIA to ascertain the causes of human smuggling at Torkham land route and to suggest some preventive measure, in order to curb the menace of human smuggling.