Worldwide, the trafficking of illegal migrants is a $4 billion-a-year industry, nearly as profitable as drug and arms smuggling. But for decades the problem has languished far down on the food chain of law enforcement. No longer. The carnage of Sept. 11 served as a wake-up call for Western authorities, highlighting the fact that militants often resort to smuggling networks to get from point A to point B. “Now we’re seeing illegal immigration as a terrorism concern,” says a foreign diplomat in Islamabad. “Even people who emigrate legitimately–doctors, lawyers, computer engineers–could have terrorist links. What about all those unknown people being smuggled in, who haven’t gone through [immigration] procedures?”
With an estimated 500 people-smuggling outfits in Pakistan alone–and a ready population of desperate refugees from Afghanistan–Southwest Asia has in recent years boasted one of the world’s most established and thriving illegal-migrant industries. In the bazaars of Peshawar, a veritable army of logisticians support the trade. These range from about 30 underground “travel agents” to innumerable document forgers, from innocuous portrait studios and photocopying shops to the go-betweens who buy visas from corrupt diplomats. Before Sept. 11 about 400 illegal immigrants per month would depart from Pakistan for various destinations. Many of the Afghans fly to Malaysia, which allows some Muslims to land without visas, and then make their way to Indonesia, where they board rickety boats bound for Australia. On Oct. 19 one such vessel, filled mostly with Iraqis and headed for Australia’s Christmas Island, sank in the waters off Indonesia, killing more than 350 people. Other illegal migrants head for China, Ukraine or Dubai.
The ongoing war has raised prices as well as demand. A trip to London, the destination of choice, used to cost nearly $18,000; to the United States, $21,000; to Germany or Australia, $13,000, and so on. Now the travel agents are wary of moving their clients for fear of getting caught. They’re charging more than $24,000 for an illegal trip to America, and there’s a long wait to get anywhere. According to one smuggler, last week as many as 1,000 would-be illegal migrants were anxiously waiting for the green light to begin underground journeys to the West.
The one group of people who can afford to leave is bin Laden’s foreign legions, thought to number as many as 5,000 fighters before Sept. 11; many are Arabs bankrolled by donations from Persian Gulf patrons. Most of these devoted cadres would no doubt rather stay and fight the Americans than run. But Al Qaeda has used the region’s well-oiled smuggling syndicates for years to insert operatives into Western countries. (Favorite destinations have included Britain and Germany, where it’s relatively easy for Afghans to gain asylum, claiming persecution at the hands of the Taliban regime.) The terrorist network has good reason to want many of its loyalists safe in countries where they can cause havoc rather than in Afghanistan, pinned down by American bombing.
The system they exploit–like many things in Afghanistan–crosses political boundaries. One Northern Alliance officer, a Pashtun commander, is supposed to be fighting the Taliban on the front lines in northern Afghanistan. Instead, he has become something of a travel agent himself, raking in big bucks smuggling foreign fighters over the Afghan-Tajik border along an ancient drug-smuggling route. The itinerary has been well traveled since 1996, when the Taliban took power in Kabul. “It’s a way for the Northern Alliance to build its war chest without even fighting,” says one Peshawar travel agent. He recalls that Northern commanders sometimes made deals with the foreign mujahedin: fight against the Taliban for two years with the Northern Alliance, then get a free trip to Europe.
More recently Arabs have been spirited over the Afghan-Tajik border of Takhar province wearing the Chitrali caps favored by local fighters and clutching Northern Alliance-issued Afghan passports. “Many bought Northern Alliance diplomatic passports and pretended to be bodyguards for the Northern commanders,” says Fekrat. From the border it’s just a short hop by land to Dushanbe, where many other travel agents offer onward packages. In Tajikistan or Uzbekistan, genuine visas to Ukraine have traditionally been easy to obtain. From there, illegal migrants would typically hitch rides on cargo trains or in the backs of closed trucks traveling toward Western Europe.
Of course, the vast majority of illegal migrants are not terrorists; especially now, thousands of Afghan refugees have good reason to want to escape the fighting in their country. But even before Sept. 11 some governments were becoming alarmed by growing evidence that terrorists have been traveling with fraudulent documents via people-smuggling routes. Last year, before the Sydney Olympics kicked off in Australia, New Zealand authorities raided a building sheltering what they believed to be three Afghan illegal immigrants. In the safe house they also found maps of Australia–with the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor highlighted in Magic Marker–and other suggestions of terrorist intent. The three migrants were arrested, and a fourth was detained a month before the Games.
Western governments are desperately trying to plug the leaks. They’re planning deportations, tightening political-asylum procedures and detaining immigration offenders. (In the United States, more than 150 were originally questioned in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks.) But the military offensive in Afghanistan has thus far not focused on preventing Al Qaeda fighters–or anyone, for that matter–from simply walking out of the country. The crackdown overseas may shut down some smuggling syndicates; more likely it will simply force new routes to open up, and force migrants to pay more.
For most Afghans, after all, fleeing poses no more desperate a prospect than staying. Sahibuk Rahman (not his real name) is an Afghan fruit vendor who lives in Pakistan but wants to immigrate to Germany. He was traveling illegally through Iran when he learned from his radio of the World Trade Center attacks. Warned about tighter controls, he and more than 200 other illegals risked an overland night crossing into Turkey anyway. Turkish border cops swooped down, scattering the group. Rahman escaped into Iran and made his way back to Peshawar last week. “Many Afghans have traveled this way–farmers, ex-communists, mujahedin, terrorists,” he says. “Maybe I’ll try again next month.” Until the well of poverty and despair that plagues the region dries up, the flood of illegals–with terrorists camouflaged in their midst–likely won’t either.
title: “The Great Escape” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-15” author: “Nicholas Collins”
Escapism has always been the prime ingredient in Indian cinema. In a land of numbing poverty and arranged marriages, India’s prolific film industry–Bollywood–is known for serving up a fantasy world of unfettered romance, sumptuous parties and Julie Andrews-style romps through mountain meadows. But Bollywood has also managed to escape another reality: the boiling tension between Hindus and Muslims. While Muslims seem marginalized in other parts of Indian society, they’re center stage in Bollywood–and in the hearts of India’s largely Hindu film audiences. Four of India’s movie idols are Muslim (including rising female star Tabu). So, too, are several leading directors and composers. “In our field there is no such thing as religion,” says top composer Anu Malik, a Muslim whose wife is Hindu.
Such integration, in fact, extends back several centuries. From the days of the Mogul Empire to the beginning of the film era, bands of Muslim singers, storytellers and comedians had been traveling around India honing their craft. Their tongue, Urdu, was seen as the language of poetry and romance. When partition came in 1947, the vast majority of Muslim entertainers decided not to migrate to Pakistan, as many other Muslim elites did. Their opportunities were in Mumbai, not Karachi. At first the Muslim actors who remained behind–including the legendary Dilip Kumar–adopted Hindi names to gain wider acceptance. But today, Muslim actors have no need to hide their identities.
Cinema is one of the few bonds holding Muslims and Hindus together. (India’s national sport, cricket, is another.) Bollywood’s key to religious harmony has little to do with good will and everything to do with talent, sex appeal–and, most of all, profits. “We know our lifeline is connected to the success of the film,” says Javed Akhtar, a leading film director. “If we thought the same way about our country, then maybe there wouldn’t be any communal violence.” Now, that would be the greatest escape.
