Trafficked to Pakistan

Written by Saadia Haq

With Ramadan the holy month of fasting, the city of Islamabad’s almost deserted. The mosques are full of devotes and the general populace are going about their tasks with a weary, hangdog, hungry air. At the Restaurant Khayam* in a market on the southwestern fringe of this planned capital of Pakistan, the sign says “Closed for Ramadan”. But if one investigates further, a certain business is booming.

Nina, Shireen and Katerina (pseudonyms used) seem not really affected by what’s going on. Despite skirmishes with the local authorities, police arrests of their colleagues they are staying put. This is their bread and butter for nearly a decade. And they are sure that sex-work has a rosy future in this stronghold of Islamic orthodoxy.

Nina says she’s a Turk from Ankara and a Muslim, while the other two fair-skinned pronounced they are hail from Azerbaijan. It soon emerges that all have Russians origins but are tight-lipped to divulge further. One can draw conclusions that the minder and madam in this small establishment is Katerina.

According to Katerina, there are over five-thousand sex-workers – women- from Russia, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, and other parts of central Asia. These women end up in Pakistan due to the trafficking networks that are operating within and out of the country.

A large number is saturated in the initial establishments in Islamabad that caters to all sorts of elite classes. For instance, Katerina says she’s a household name for the businessmen, diplomats and local authorities. It does come as no surprise when she asserts that the lowly status of women in Asian societies as well as booming sex-tourism has greatly contributed to the phenomenon.

Despite tall-claims of purity vis-à-vis, the Islamic State of Pakistan is listed as “a source, transit, and destination country” for trafficked persons, according to the US State Department’s Trafficking in Persons report for 2012.

Katerina and other members of her network first came into the local public’s attention few years ago, when police raided several plush guesthouses, and hotels. The sporadic arrests of involved women and men could help establish the facts and situation better. She muses that “it’s hypocritical of the local media to highlight stories of trafficking and show reports covering the alleged dens and hide-outs.” She says it makes their lives harder, but they have other ways to counter such crack-downs. The topic of “women/girls sale” also came up, where I was told that prices depend up the conditions in which the women/girls are, if its better, she can be sold at a higher price.

Usually trafficked women are sold for $1,000 to $2,000 depending on age, beauty, race and their virginity. The youngest Nina* story is proof of this abomination. She was in the possession of a factory owner in Jalalabad (Afghanistan) for several years, and after getting bored with her, he re-sold her across the border.

Many young sex-workers like Nina or some underage ones also give birth to children who are also sold in the markets. Katerina thinks that this is more common amongst those trafficked from neighboring India like the Bangladeshi origin women. Upon hearing the word, Bangladesh, India, almost all women draw their lips as if mildly irritated.

I soon find out the reason is obviously economic. The presence of South Asian sex-workers in Islamabad is perceived to be a mild-threat because they charge less money from clients. This creates problems for Katerina because of client rate haggling for her girls.

Obviously the conversation steers back to them, Katerina and her girls were doing very nicely in Islamabad until the arrests and expulsions. Now that fuss has died down, they are doing very nicely again. While we were in conversation, the sun had set. As countless people followed the iftar sirens and azan (call to prayers) to break the fasts, it was time for Katerina to reopen her shop for the day—- in their case evening.

The irony of the situation was not lost on me.

Shireen who until now was silent, walks up to stand near the window. She says that she enjoys the mystical, peaceful silence that follows during the month of fasting. Maybe later on, she and her colleagues provide relief to many weary men that fasted during the day.

Across town at the Diplomat Inn (next door to a United Nations agency), the price demanded for a half a night in the arms of a “Turkish 19-year-old” – actually another Russian – is Rs8,000 (Euro 62).

These women are doing well because the classical Central Asian look – fair skin, strong nose, glossy black hair – corresponds to the Pakistani ideal of female beauty. Katerina is adamant that she and her colleagues are quite over the feeling of being trapped into this profession. It would not be wrong to say that they have a very blasé attitude towards being a foreign sex-worker in Pakistan. For them, it’s the best thing that could happen for they are in an advantageous position. If they want, they can even open their wings to Middle Eastern shores, where central Asian beauties are in high demand.

Does she miss home? Katerina says, “Despite the fact that we send money once in a while, because we are lucky to have maintained contacts, there’s hardly any concern for our whereabouts, it all boils down to money.”

Indeed, poverty is the root cause behind such blasé attitudes towards serious concerns like danger to life, health and so on. This alone forces women like these to accept such ways of life.

As opposed to the other parts of the globe, where organized gangs of traffickers trap women into sexual slavery, the foreign sex-workers working in Pakistan are here on their own, drawn by the financial rewards their exotic origins offer them. With this, we came to an end, as now the girls had to finish preparation for their night jobs.

Walking down the stair-case, I kept thinking about the PACHTO Law and it’s uselessness to prevent the organized crime of trafficking persons within the country.

Pakistan made progress in law enforcement efforts to combat human trafficking in 2009 with the prohibition of all forms of transnational trafficking in persons with the Prevention and Control of Human Trafficking Ordinance (PACHTO).

However, Government officials and civil society report that judges have difficulty applying the law, because of confusion over existing definitions and similar offenses in the Pakistan Penal Code.

Overall the lack of adequate governmental protection for trafficking victims continues, and implementation of laws is another weaker factor to be noted.

*Names have been changed

References:

• US State Department’s Trafficking in Persons report for 2012

Prevention and Control of Human Trafficking Ordinance, Pakistan