ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah on Friday provided an update on the Greek shipwreck incident, revealing that bodies of 82 Pakistani victims had been recovered, with their specimens obtained and identification process being conducted through Nadra.
The Interior Minister informed the National Assembly that around 350 Pakistani migrants were aboard the boat. He said that 12 Pakistanis survived the tragedy.
He said 82 bodies of those aboard the boat have so far been recovered and their identification process is underway with the help of the forensic and NADRA data. The minister also warned that the toll in the incident may escalate dramatically.
Last week, an Italy-bound fishing trawler reportedly carrying at least 800 people including hundreds of Pakistanis capsized off Greece. Only 104 people are known to have survived and the chance of finding more survivors was seen as virtually nil.
Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah has assured to take a firm action against those involved in the illegal business of human trafficking.
While speaking the recent boat capsizing incident near the coast of Greece wherein Pakistani migrants also lost lives, he said a high level inquiry committee has been constituted which will suggest different recommendations including amendments in the legislation to ensure conviction of the human traffickers.
He said at present a crackdown is underway to nab those behind the tragic boat accident near the coast of Greece.
The Interior Minister said special desks have been established to contact the affected families so far 281 families have contacted these desks.
He said 193 DNA samples have so far been collected to complete the identification process.
Besides, the Interior Minister said that those involved in attacking military installations and desecrating martyrs’ memorials must be brought to justice.
He said the nation has no sympathies with the gangsters involved in the May 9 incidents and wants them to be brought to justice.
The Chair directed the power Distribution Companies (DISCOs) to carry out load shedding as per the schedule, saying strict action will be taken on unannounced outages.
He gave the ruling following MNA Noor Alam Khan alluded to the problems faced by the people due to load shedding in the scorching heat.
In his remarks on the occasion, Minister for Education Rana Tanveer Hussain said the previous government of PML-N brought the power outages to Zero by installing several power plants.
He regretted that the PTI government in its tenure halted the progress on new power plants. He said more electricity has been added to the system over the last one year because of the efforts of the present government.
Minister for Water Resources Syed Khursheed Shah said the country cannot afford expensive electricity. He said we will have to focus on exploiting the potential of coal, hydel, wind and solar to produce cheap electricity.
