Explained: Punjab’s fatal obsession
The anxiety and confusion in several districts of Punjab has been heightened by memories of earlier tragedies in which youths from the state have disappeared or died while attempting to make an illegal passage to the West.
A survivor of the Malta boat tragedy along with relatives of some of the dead in Punjab in 2007. (Express Archive)
Some 20 youths from Punjab are reported to have drowned after a boat full of illegal migrants apparently trying to get to the US capsized off the Panamanian-Colombian coast earlier this month. 10 days after the reported tragedy, next to nothing is known of the circumstances of the drownings. An apparent survivor, one Sonu of Bhogpur in Jalandhar, had rung up his wife and father to tell them that two youths with him on the boat — Gurjeet Singh and Gurwinder Singh of Kapurthala — had drowned. Sonu has not contacted anyone since, and his whereabouts are not known. There is no official word from the government of Panama, Colombia, or any other country. The Punjab Police have arrested two travel agents allegedly involved in sending the youths out of the country, and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal this week urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to send a team to the US to find out more.
The anxiety and confusion in several districts of Punjab has been heightened by memories of earlier tragedies in which youths from the state have disappeared or died while attempting to make an illegal passage to the West. The worst of these by far was the Malta boat tragedy of 1996, in which 283 illegal emigrants, a significant chunk of whom were from Punjab, were drowned in the Mediterranean. At least three other disasters followed, before the latest incident off central America.
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And yet, youths from Punjab seem powerless to resist the lure of a life in a developed country abroad. Reasons include dollar dreams and the lack of jobs at home, along with the desire to emulate neighbours seemingly enriched beyond belief after escaping to the West. From the four Doaba districts — Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala and Nawanshahr — some 6 million are settled abroad, and there is hardly a family here that does not have at least one member overseas.
Unscrupulous travel agents in virtually every village assure gullible youths that the absence of skills or documents would not stand in the way of emigrating. The youths are usually taken to Europe via African countries and to the US through South American or Central American countries, with the help of local human trafficking agents.
Malta, 1996
On the night of Christmas, 283 illegal migrants drowned off Malta while they were being transferred from a vessel called Yioham to a smaller boat. Some 170 of the dead were from Punjab; the rest were mainly from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The migrants were trying to enter Italy illegally. Most of the Indians were men in their early 20s from the Doaba; a few were from Amritsar, Ropar, Gurdaspur and Sangrur. The case against 29 travel agents accused of sending the youths abroad remains pending; 9 of the accused are now dead. As are several of those who lost their sons or other relatives and were awaiting justice.
Greece, 2002
Some 17 youths, again from the districts of Jalandhar, Nawanshahr and Kapurthala, went missing in the eastern Mediterranean off the coast of Turkey on April 18, apparently while trying to reach Greece. Police registered a case, and two travel agents, one from Nawanshahr and the other from Delhi, were picked up.
Spain, 2004
In December, 37 youths, mostly from Kapurthala, Nawanshahr, Hoshiarpur and Jalandhar districts, went missing en route to Spain. Some of the families have reconciled themselves to the possibility of their having drowned; the rest continue to wait for word from them. Following some information in 2011 that the youths were captive in a west African country, the Punjab Police took up the case, and the government collected blood samples for a DNA test should the missing individuals be located. But the leads led nowhere. The families of each of the missing youths had paid Rs 6-7 lakh to travel agents.
Most of the youths were from Kapurthala, Nawanshahr, Hoshiarpur and Jalandhar districts, and between 18 and 25 years of age. The last time any of the families heard from them was in the first week of January 2005.
Rattan Singh of Begowal in Kapurthala district said his son Amandeep Singh was just 17 when he left for Spain in December 2004 along with 36 other youths. “We filed a case against the agent, and he was jailed. But he got bail and is now free. The police have not told us what they have done in the case till date,” Rattan Singh said.
Nirmal Kaur of Padhas, not far from Begowal, said her son Lakhwinder was 19 when he left for Spain dreaming of a better future. “His father has a heart condition now. Neither the government nor the agent, to whom we gave Rs 7 lakh after taking a loan, has told us anything,” she said.
Jarnail Singh, father of Charanjit Singh, 23, of Mehandpur village in Nawanshahr, said some travel agents had told him the youths had drowned while crossing the Mediterranean to Spain from Morocco.
Sucha Singh of Thigli village in Kapurthala, whose brother Vijay was among those who travelled to Spain, said: “In 2011 we heard that 35 Punjabi youths were in the captivity of someone called Mohammad in Mauritania, who had a score to settle with the agents in Punjab.”
In 2011, Punjab and Haryana High Court intervened. Advocate Anil Malhotra, whom the court appointed amicus curiae, suggested that a Punjab Police team visit Mauritania. Not much has been done, however, Malhotra said.
Mexico, 2010
Eleven youths were said to have gone missing in Mexico near its border with the US in 2010. The family of each man had allegedly paid Rs 20 lakh to a Delhi-based agent. They allege both the police and the state government have been unresponsive to their complaints.
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