ISLAMABAD - The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed all the provinces to submit reports regarding measures taken to curb human smuggling and data on children out of school within a month.
A two-member SC bench comprising Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi heard the case pertaining to the trafficking of minors.
During the course of the proceedings, the court remarked that there was a need to formulate and implement policies to prevent human trafficking.
The Chief Justice said that the boat tragedy on Greek shores was a matter of human rights. He said that innocent and poor people were tricked into going abroad on the pretext of better jobs. Citizens were duped by human traffickers and paid millions of rupees, he added.
He pointed out that even children and women were becoming victims of human smuggling. The Chief Justice asked did the government had statistics on the number of children being smuggled. The Director General of the Ministry of Human Rights replied that unfortunately, accurate statistics were not available.
Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial said that there was ambiguity in the laws against human smuggling in 2018. The primary concern was the unavailability of a specialist force for the implementation of the laws, he added.
He said that the responsibility of stopping human smuggling was also under the police. He said that the Supreme Court had also asked the provincial governments to play their role against human trafficking. The Chief Justice also recalled the Tayyaba torture case and said that the Supreme Court had also heard the Tayyaba torture case some time ago. He said Tayyaba was now a 9th-grade student. Tayyaba was abandoned by her parents and she was now living in an SOS village, he added.
He said that the aim was not just to protect children but also to strengthen them. There was a need to educate the society, he added. He said that it was our religious duty to protect the downtrodden sections of society. The government should formulate a policy to prevent human trafficking, including women and children, he added.
Subsequently, the hearing of the case was adjourned for one month.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court of Pakistan Wednesday allowed Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) to fill 205 vacant positions, including pilots, cabin crew, and IT specialists. A two-member bench of the apex court comprising Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Ayesha A Malik conducted hearing of the PIA plea seeking permission for the recruitment of 250 skilful workers.
PIA CEO Air Vice Marshal Muhammad Amir Hayat informed that the national airline’s profit for the last six months is Rs3 billion and flights are operating on profitable routes. He stated that in order to revitalize PIA and ensure its financial stability, the operation of profitable flights and the commencement of new international and national routes will be started.
Justice Ijaz remarked that the flight staff of other airlines is less, and questioned if the recruitment will be on a permanent or on a contractual basis. The PIA CEO responded that the recruitment will be on a one-year renewable contract basis. The Court allowing the recruitment of 205 employees directed the national carrier’s administration to make the recruitment process clear and transparent.
Earlier, Justice Ayesha Malik questioned; “Why PIA is not able to pay its dues and why does it have to recruit more people?” Justice Ijaz said the quality of services of the PIA is not up to the mark, adding that new recruitment will burden the organization by more than Rs90 million. The PIA in its fresh application had stated that there were a number of key positions currently lying vacant which are required to be filled in order to ensure smooth operations of the organization. It further said, “Without the induction of the said new employees the airline will not be able to meet its operational requirements and could once again run into financial difficulties as a result of not being able to operate at full capacity.”
