A deadly gamble for life
It was a quiet evening in April 2014 when I, along with a friend, decided to explore the tourist town of Goreme in the Cappadocia region of Turkey, famous for its fairy chimneys, boutique cave hotels and hot-air balloon rides.
Wandering the streets, we were tempted to take a break at a small roadside café. We were accosted by a young South Asian waiter. The tone and tenor suggested the boy was either from India or Pakistan. “We will like to have coffee but where are you from?” I asked him.
“Pakistan,” he replied.
As he came back to serve coffee, we couldn’t hide our curiosity and asked him as to why and how did he reach there. “It’s a long story,” Aslam told us. “I belong to a small village in the Punjab province of Pakistan. My family doesn’t own any land and there are no jobs available in the village. A question of survival, my father found his way to Dubai. Hearing about the prosperity of Europe, I also started planning for the perilous journey to Europe through Iran and Turkey.”
He contacted travel agents who charged hefty amounts and planned such journeys in winters. “They took us to a border town near Quetta and from there it took us about six hours. After entering Iran, the agents took us to Tehran and then to Maku, a town close to the Turkey border. From there, the extremely difficult trek to the Turkish border started and we had to walk on narrow paths across mountains and cross snow-covered trails without much food and water for many days. Those who cannot endure the arduous journey, the harsh terrain and the biting cold die on the way and their bodies are buried under snow, to be recovered later. And then, there is the constant threat of being caught or shot by the border police,” he narrated.
“Once in Turkey, they took us to Istanbul for onward smuggling to Greece, but we were stopped by the local police, jailed for a month and then released. There are thousands of illegal Pakistani migrants in Turkey who come here mostly through the land route via Iran, with the intention to enter Europe. These days, Greece has closed its borders and it is getting difficult to enter. So, like many other such illegal migrants, I decided to stay put in Turkey. Here in Turkey, most migrants work at restaurants, factories or construction sites and are paid unfairly due to their illegal status,” he continued.
As Aslam went away, we were left speechless. Trudging back to our hotel, we wondered what motivated these young boys to undertake such illegal, harsh and sometimes life-threatening journeys!
Lure of a prosperous future, extreme poverty and lack of employment opportunities in their own hometown and country? Thousands of Indians also undertake similar journeys through sea and land route to reach Europe or the US.
