Human Trafficking Racket Smuggled Women from Gilgit-Baltistan to Serbia: Ishaq Dar Orders Investigation
ISLAMABAD: A shocking human trafficking scandal has surfaced, exposing a network that smuggled dozens of women from Gilgit-Baltistan to Serbia under the guise of employment. The racket, allegedly facilitated by Pakistan’s Ambassador to Serbia, Ali Haider Altaf, has prompted Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar to launch an official investigation.
According to Pakistani journalist Shamshad Bangash, the trafficking operation was orchestrated by a company named Highreach International, reportedly owned by Saleha Rajpoot and Sajid Mumtaz. Between March and December 2024, the company ran newspaper advertisements offering jobs in Serbia for “female farm workers” with a monthly salary of €600. The recruitment targeted women between the ages of 25 and 50, requiring no education or prior experience. Each applicant was charged PKR 200,000, raising initial suspicions that were largely ignored.
“These women were lured with fake job offers and smuggled out of Pakistan. Once in Serbia, their passports were confiscated, and they were forced into low-paid field labor under inhumane conditions,” said investigative journalist Shamshad Bangash, who has been tracking the case for months.
Of the 40 women trafficked through this scheme, the majority hailed from Gilgit-Baltistan. The situation escalated when two of them were arrested in Romania, triggering alarm among international human rights organizations.
The scandal has sent shockwaves through Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Islamabad-based journalist Sabih Ul Hussnain reported that the Foreign Office has constituted a fact-finding committee to investigate the alleged involvement of Ambassador Ali Haider Altaf and other officials in facilitating the trafficking ring.
Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has vowed a thorough probe into how a private company, allegedly with diplomatic backing, was able to operate such a large-scale smuggling network using government influence and diplomatic channels.
Warnings about the trafficking operation had surfaced as early as April 2024. Yaqoob Tai, a journalist from Ghizer, Gilgit-Baltistan, had raised concerns on social media about a non-local woman and a local accomplice conducting suspicious recruitment drives in the region.
Tai warned that unemployed women were being lured with false promises of high salaries in Europe, despite no qualification requirements—a red flag for human trafficking. “People of Ghizer, especially parents, must not fall for such false promises,” he cautioned. While Ghizer police expelled the recruiters, they later attempted to return, signaling the persistence of the operation.
The revelations have sparked outrage, raising critical questions about how a private company, allegedly supported by a serving diplomat, was able to carry out transnational human smuggling with impunity.
The role of government officials and diplomatic missions in enabling such criminal networks will be central to the investigation. As Pakistan grapples with the fallout, human rights groups and watchdogs are demanding swift action to bring the perpetrators to justice and protect vulnerable women from falling prey to similar schemes.
