Second life for rescued Pakistani slaves

Nightmare of torture, ill-treatment comes to an end

On Board The Ocean Viking, June 27: Leaning on the aft deck of the Ocean Viking, the humanitarian ship that picked them up in the Mediterranean on Thursday, a group of Pakistanis look back to watch the Libyan coast receding behind them. And with it, the nightmare of torture, ill-treatment and kidnappings that they have witnessed or suffered. “For them, we are not human beings,” said Imran, one of 31 Pakistanis in the group of 51 migrants whose wooden boat was rescued on Thursday off the Italian island of Lampedusa, during an operation by the SOS Mediterranean ambulance boat.

“All the Pakistanis here (on the boat) were captive during their passage in Libya,” said the 30-yearold bricklayer who left the north African country after a year trapped there. “We were all kidnapped. We came to work, but all we found was war, torture and extortion. For blacks, it’s almost the same as for us but with the Bangladeshis, the Pakistanis, they are the ones who suffer the most.” Like Imran, who passed through Dubai before coming to work in construction near Tripoli, all of them told stories of the beatings and kidnappings. For him, it was “from the airport”. “I was sold to someone who locked me up,” he said. “There were 35, 40 of us crammed into a room, we were not allowed to go out. Then he sold me to someone else who also locked me up. It was like that all the time. I was a slave.” “They give you just enough to eat so you stay alive, not one more bite,” said Naeem, 35, who managed to “escape” but made the “mistake” of going to the police.

“The police took me back to the kidnappers,” he said. “It was worse. There was not a single person who helped us in Libya. I did not find a single good person in the whole country.” Mohammad Arshad, dressed in a blue traditional shalwar kameez recounted how he spent two years in the port city of Khoms and explained the mechanics of the ransom note.

“They come in groups,” he said. “They can catch you anywhere, at work, in the street. They blindfold you. They hit you and call your parents, saying ‘If you don’t pay, he’ll die’.” His father had to find $10,000, a fortune in Pakistan, by going into debt with relatives.

“Here in the Mediterranean, we can die once. In Libya, we die every day,” Arslan Ahmid said in a low voice.

● THE 31 Pakistanis in the group of 51 migrants were aboard the wooden boat that was rescued on Thursday off the Italian island of Lampedusa, during an operation by the SOS Mediterranean ambulance boat.