PM announces day of mourning over death of Pakistanis in Greece shipwreck incident

Islamabad: Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif announced the observance of a day of mourning on June 19 (today) over the death of Pakistani nationals who lost their lives after a ship carrying migrants sank off the coast of Greece on June 14.

“The national flag will fly on half-mast and special prayers would be offered for the deceased,” PM Office Media Wing said in a press statement issued in the Urdu language.

Moreover, according to another notification of the PM Office, the prime minister has constituted a high-level four-member committee to conduct an inquiry into the tragic incident.

“In an unfortunate incident on 14^th June, 2023, a boat carrying migrants capsized off the coast of Greece resulting in the deaths of Pakistani/AJK nationals along with other nationals. The number of casualties are being still ascertained. The Prime Minister, while expressing his grief over the incident and also taking a serious note of it, has been pleased to constitute an Inquiry Committee,” the notification said.

The committee will be headed by its chairman Director National Police Bureau Ehsan Sadiq and Additional Secretary Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Africa) Javed Ahmad Umrani, DIG Azad Jammu and Kashmir Police Region Poonch Sardar Zaheer Ahmad and Joint Secretary Interior Division (FIA) Faisal Nisar Ch. as its members.

The Inquiry Committee would submit its report within one week.

According to the notification, the Inquiry Committee would ascertain facts of the Greece boat tragedy, identify loopholes and lapses in the legal/enforcement mechanism in Pakistan that exposed precious human lives to the vagaries of human trafficking in this particular case and similar incidents in the past.

The committee is tasked to analyze similar past incidents and action taken so far and to take stock of the existing legal framework, enforcement measures (in the country) and international coordination to prevent, control and punish human smuggling and to prepare short-and long-term recommendations (including legislation, enforcement measures, awareness campaigns and improvement of national and international coordination) to apprehend agents, facilitators, masterminds, rackets and for the eradication of the menace of human trafficking.