The Senate Standing Committee on Home Affairs has passed 3 bills to increase penalties for crimes related to human trafficking.
One of the bills proposes to amend the Prevention of Human Trafficking Act, 2018, to include organized begging as an offense.
The amendments propose to increase the prison sentence for the crime of human trafficking from 7 years to 10 years and a fine of Rs 1 million.
The proposed punishment for crimes against children and women is 14 years of imprisonment and a fine of up to Rs 2 million.
A statement in this regard said that the amendments have been enacted to “promote and facilitate effective measures to prevent and combat trafficking of persons, especially women and children, promote and facilitate national and international cooperation on these crimes, and stiff penalties will create deterrence against the crime.”
According to the bill, Pakistani embassies in the Gulf countries, Iraq and Malaysia have complained that some citizens who come to these countries for religious and personal visits start begging there.
They have urged the authorities to take strict action against the people involved in begging and the groups behind them.
The agents and gangs involved in this heinous act easily escape prosecution, as begging is not a crime under any law that comes under the purview of the FIA.
The Senate committee also approved amendments to the Prevention of Smuggling of Migrants Act 2018, under which the punishment for human trafficking will be increased from 5 years to 10 years of imprisonment.
The fine amount has been increased from Rs 1 million to Rs 10 million.
The amendments have increased the punishment for illegally harboring a foreign national in Pakistan from one to three years to two to five years and doubled the fine limit to Rs 2 million.
The committee also approved a bill to amend the Immigration Ordinance 1979, under which the judicial powers to release the accused after imposing a minor fine will be abolished, the amendment proposed mandatory imprisonment along with the fine.
Highlighting the increasing incidents of human trafficking, Home Secretary Khurram Agha stressed the importance of strict laws and said that the proposed legislation includes measures to ensure strong punishments and stringent punishments for the perpetrators.
During the Senate committee meeting, FIA officials confirmed that 10 Pakistanis who went to Saudi Arabia on Umrah visas were deported after they were found involved in begging.
