There have been 1 million Bangladeshi and more
than 200,000 Burmese women trafficked to Karachi, Pakistan. (Indrani Sinha, SANLAAP India,
"Paper on Globalization & Human Rights")
200,000 Bangladeshi women have been trafficked to Pakistan for the slave trade and
prostitution. (Trafficking in Women and Children: The Cases of Bangladesh, p.8,
UBINIG, 1995)
200,000 Bangladeshi women were trafficked to Pakistan in the last ten years, continuing
at the rate of 200-400 women monthly. (CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and
Prostitution in the Asia Pacific)
In Pakistan, where most of trafficked Bengali women are sold there are about 1,500
Bengali women in jail and about 200,000 women and children sold into in the slave trade.
(estimates by Human Rights organizations in Pakistan, Trafficking in Women and
Children: The Cases of Bangladesh, p.14, UBINIG, 1995)
India and Pakistan are the main destinations for children under 16 who are trafficked
in south Asia. (Masako Iijima, "S. Asia urged to unite against child
prostitution," Reuters, 19 June 1998)
More than 150 women were trafficked to Pakistan every day between 1991 and 1993.
(Indrani Sinha, SANLAAP India, "Paper on Globalization & Human Rights")
100 - 150 women are estimated to enter Pakistan illegally every day. Few ever return to
their homes. ("Rights-South Asia: Slavery Still A Thriving Trade," IPS,
29 December 1997)
There are over 200,000 undocumented Bangladeshi women in Pakistan, including some 2,000
in jails and shelters. Bangladeshis comprise 80 percent, and Burmese 14 percent, of
Karachi’s undocumented immigrants. (Zia Ahmed Awan, affiliate with Lawyers for Human
Rights and Legal Aid, Sindh police report in 1993, "Rights-South Asia: Slavery Still
A Thriving Trade," IPS, 29 December 1997)
A Bengali or Burmese woman could be sold in Pakistan for US$1,500 - 2,500 - depending
on age, looks, docility and virginity. For each child or woman sold, the police claim a 15
to 20 percent "commission." ("Rights-South Asia: Slavery Still A Thriving
Trade," IPS, 29 December 1997)
Women kidnapped at the Pakistan-Afghanistan border are being sold in the marketplace
for R600 per kilogram as of 1991. (CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and
Prostitution in the Asia Pacific)
Auctions of girls are arranged for three kinds of buyers: rich visiting Arabs (sheiks,
businessmen, visitors, state-financed medical and university students), the rich local
gentry, and rural farmers. (CATW - Asia Pacific "Trafficking in Women and
Prostitution in the Asia Pacific" (19)
19,000 Pakistani children have been trafficked to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
160,000 Nepalese women are in Indian brothels. (LHRLA, Indrani Sinha, SANLAAP India,
"Paper on Globalization & Human Rights")
Orphaned girls are sold as ‘wives’ to men who may resell them (CATW - Asia
Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific)
Methods and Techniques of
Traffickers
Bangladeshi and Burmese women are being kidnapped, married off to agents by
unsuspecting parents, trafficked under false pretenses, or enticed by prospects of a
better life, into brothels in Pakistan. Border police and other law enforcement agencies
are well aware of the trafficking through entry points into Pakistan like Lahore, Kasur,
Bahawalpur, Chhor and Badin. (Sindh police report in 1993, "Rights-South Asia:
Slavery Still A Thriving Trade," IPS, 29 December 1997)
Nepalese and Bangladeshi woman and girls are trafficked under false pretenses, such as
jobs, then are forced into prostitution in brothels in Pakistan. (CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking
in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific)
A rise in trafficking of girls, aged 8-15, in Pakistan has occurred during this last
decade. (CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific)
Policy and Law
Trafficked women are further victimized by the police and the legal system, which treat
them as criminals. The women are booked under Pakistan's controversial 'Hudood
Ordinances.' The Zina Ordinance, which comes under the Islamic Hudood Ordinance, makes
adultery or sex outside marriage a crime against the state. Women and girls in
prostitution are often charged with Zina. Sometimes, they are booked under the Passport
Act. Either way, they have to spend long periods in prison. For illegal immigration, the
sentence is four years, but many women end up serving three or four years extra, either
waiting for trial or to clear immigration formalities. (Nausheen Ahmed, "Rights-South
Asia: Slavery Still A Thriving Trade," IPS, 29 December 1997)
The governments of Pakistan in the last 26 years have established three commissions of
inquiry into the sexual exploitation of women. However, the government under Bhutto in the
seventies, the Zia regime of the eighties and the present government have all disregarded
the commission's recommendations. (Binoo Sen, National Commission for Women India,
"Paper on Political Commitment")