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In their desperate pursuit of making it big abroad, the Punjabis stop at nothing.
Nonika Singh on how this has resulted in a thriving racket in illegal immigration
PUNJABIS and potatoes are found everywhere; beneath this oft-repeated joke rests the grand Punjabi fascination for alien shores. As this yearning translates into a fanatical mania bordering on suicidal desperation, tragic tales of illegal immigration, of unrequited ambition, of dreams turning sour, of precious lives lost, are written and re-written. Yet the horror stories of tragedies like the Malta boat mishap are buried deep in the collective Punjabi memory. Even today an average Punjabi youth would go to any lengths, bear any cost and adopt any means — legal or illegal — to cross the seven seas and start a new life in a new country. And the faster the law catches up, the more ingenuous he becomes. With each new dawn his mind devises newer means to immigrate. Pigeon flying or kabootarbaazi, which was once a popular sport patronised by the Mughals, is today a euphemism for human trafficking. Tricks of the trade In a new trend this "cross-over brigade" is getting younger by the day. Some of the 40 immigrants, who performed the vanishing trick in New Zealand after entering the country as part of the pre-World Youth Day celebrations were as young as 16. In fact, the newest entrants in the ‘business’ of kabootarbaazi happen to be students. Educational tours seem to have become the latest tool for ‘evaporation’. Six students from Punjab — three from a college and three from two schools of Kapurthala district — recently went on an education tour to Germany and disappeared there. Earlier, another six students, including two from Jalandhar, along with a woman teacher from Hoshiarpur district, went missing during trips to NASA. Sometime back, one of the safe and standard procedures was to become a part of a musical group by posing as an artiste. But as the spotlight turned towards high-profile cases like the one involving pop icon Daler Mehndi and ICCR officials, the culture con lost sheen. Dubious travel agents and fly-by-night operators do drive the illegal trade. But over the years, politicians, high-ranking officers, sportspersons, pop icons, too, have been accused of indulging in human smuggling. Balwant Singh Ramoowalia, a former MP and President of the Lok Bhalai Party, who has been spearheading a crusade against unscrupulous agents, says, "Who is not a travel agent in Punjab? Even sadhus and sants have joined the racket." Illegal immigration works at two levels. One way is to seek a legal visa and become part of bhajan mandlis, sports teams, music groups, dance troupes, pilgrimages and now educational tours and perform the vanishing trick after landing on the coveted foreign soil. The other way is to illegally sneak into foreign lands on fake papers. Though fraught with many dangers, this method is as popular. While the US, Canada and the UK are the most preferred countries, New Zealand, too, is emerging as a dream destination. European destinations like Greece and Spain, rather any country that promises a better life and is easier to enter in an illegal way, falls in the desirable list of those nursing dollar dreams. Immigration is a natural way of growth, both for individuals and nations. Thus, at the surface level, the over-eager Punjabi’s bid to seek the NRI tag (which they wear with great pride) is understandable. Punjab’s billion-dollar foreign remittances and the recent election of nine Indian-Canadians of Punjabi origin in Canada are examples that have the potential to inspire any Punjabi. In Doaba, the sight of massive mansions of NRIs is bound to have an effect, even if it is in the classic ‘neighbour’s-envy, owner’s-pride’ mould. Danger zone However, Punjabis’ search for greener pastures can’t be mocked at or condemned. What is unfathomable is the preposterous extent to which they go to attain their goal. They are ready to brave anything — hide as stowaways in tankers, trek for several days at a stretch, bear frostbites, lose limbs, starve, risk falling into the hands of the authorities, serve jail terms, be exiled in gurdwaras — to enter foreign shores. The story is not much different for women as many of them ride piggyback on prospective grooms (who are mostly NRI men of dubious character). They enter into fraud marriages and divorces and become willing or unwilling partners in the game of wedding tricks. As for the young men, no price — even life — is too big to get a taste of the dollar pie. In order to bear the cost, which is often between Rs 20 and Rs 25 lakh, they sell land, pawn assets and borrow money at hefty interest rates. And after all this, they become ready guinea pigs in the world of human trafficking, which is an organised crime, carried on by a nexus of local travel agents and their overseas counterparts. According to the International Labour Organisation, roughly 12 million persons are illegally trafficked at any given time. The FBI estimates that the illegal trade, worth $9.5 billion annually, has links with international arms trade, drugs, prostitution and child abuse. According to an Interpol study, India accounts for the largest number of illegal immigrants moving to western Europe. Another report by the United Nations Organisation on Drugs and Crime states that nearly 80 per cent of the illegal immigrants from India are Punjabis. Out of this, more than five lakh live in the UK alone. In a sting operation, the BBC exposed a London-based criminal network that used fake passports, identity documents and human carriers to bring in illegal migrants, mostly from Punjab. The chase In this multi-million dollar racket, dubious travel agents cheat Punjabis. Ramoowalia asserts that gullible Punjabis are losing crores each day and the loss is so huge that seven generations of affected families will be impoverished. He adds, "The stories that ultimately find media coverage, form only the tip of the iceberg as hundreds of cases remain unreported." As ‘kabootars’ fly, the flight is often aborted and reverted too. Recent raids in Belgium, illegal immigrants from India — again mostly from Punjab — found stuffed in dingy rooms around Brussels. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reports that thousands of illegal immigrants from India , Punjab , in particular, are languishing in jails, refugee homes and camps in Europe. Hundreds of such illegal immigrants, on way to the US, Canada and western Europe, are trapped in the transit stops in Syria, Malaysia, Ukraine, Pakistan, Thailand, Turkey, Sri Lanka and Russia, while thousands of others are deported. In 2006, more than 2,000 Punjabis were sent back with one-way travel documents. More than 9,000 Punjabis have been shown the door in various countries. Why aren’t Punjabis deterred by such failures or grave tragedies like the one that happened in Malta in which as many as 170 Punjabi youths had perished or fatalities in the Morava river, dividing the Czech and Slovak Republics. The recent news of death of a 22-year-old youth in Lebanon is a tragic reminder of how Punjabis are continuously falling prey to human trafficking. According to Ramoowalia, nearly 1,800 youths have lost their lives and around 2,500 women caught in the web of fraud marriages are ‘languishing’ in foreign countries. Sanjiv Kalra, Inspector General, Jalandhar range, opines, "Punjabi youth are a classic example of ‘bitten again and again but never shy’. Frankly, they fall into the trap with their eyes wide open." And he is not off the mark. Take the case of Baljit Kaur. She recounts the harrowing experience of her 18-year-old son Harjot Singh, who was recently brought back from Malaysia on an emergency certificate, thanks to Ramoowalia’s efforts. But, clearly no lessons have been learnt, as she is non-committal about her son not trying his luck againto go abroad. She says, "What option do we have?" Gurmukh Singh, whose son-in-law was caught in Turkey while trying to move from Lebanon to Greece, echoes similar thoughts. He understands that there is a real threat to life but his misguided stance is, "one has to go, for here we find it difficult even to make two ends meet." Ramoowalia is aghast, "Don’t blame the people. The system must be held accountable." The Director-General of Police, Punjab, N. P. S. Aulakh, agrees that human trafficking is a major problem. As many as 990 cases of immigration fraud in 2007 and 589 in 2008 (till September 30) have been registered. In 2008, almost 80 such cases have been registered and 92 travel agents have been arrested in the Ludhiana range. But since the charges are primarily under Section 420 of the IPC, bail is granted inevitably. More disheartening is the low conviction rate. Just a handful of travel agents have been convicted, and the big fish has not been caught. Even in high profile cases like the ones involving Daler Mehndi, IFS officer Rakesh Kumar etc, no conviction has taken place so far. Kalra reasons, "After filing the case against the defrauding agent, victims strike a compromise. Such is their psyche that the moment they recover their money from one travel agent, they go to another one." Compulsions The root of this irresistible attraction lies in economic compulsions. Punjab may be hailed as a prosperous state but here very few jobs are available, especially for the rural semi-educated youth (who form the bulk of kabootars). Add to this, corruption and nepotism in the job market and the situation becomes grimmer. As Baljit Kaur shares, "With two sons, one just a matriculate and the other a Class XII passout, how do we beat berozgaari?" So the concerned parents would rather have their children gainfully employed in foreign lands than let them fall prey to depression due to unemployment. More and more countries are tightening the leash. Monisha Mahajan, vice-president of the Mindspring India, a company that deals in international placements, says: "Laws abroad are getting more and more stringent. Many nations like the UK are refusing transit visas to genuine work-permit holders. In Canada, even for a cook’s job the immigrant has to clear the IELTS." India has been placed in Tier II watch list for the fourth consecutive year since 2004, which implies that India does not conform to the minimum standards laid down by the USA to combat human trafficking. Will the proposed Punjab Prevention of Human Trafficking Act curtail the flight of these kabootars, more pertinently, clip the long rope with which the fraudulent agents make these pigeons fly? Once the proposal, currently under consideration of the Punjab Government, becomes a law, says DGP Aulakh, "it will help us rein in fraudulent agents as travel agents will have to furnish bank guarantees and it will be possible to impose deterrent penalties". The irrepressible Punjabi, however, couldn’t care less. "Supne dekhne chhado, haqiqat val dhyaan deyo" (quit the dream world come back to reality) may be the slogan of the media campaign launched by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs but the smitten Punjabi seems to be in no mood to stop chasing phoren dreams. To him still all roads lead to his El Dorado in foreign lands. Never mind that what they are hankering after is not just a mirage but also a barren desert where all that they can reap is misery and tears.
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