Left: Migrants crowd a vessel crossing the Mediterranean Sea. Right: The OceanGate Expeditions Titan submersible.Hellenic Coast Guard via AP; OceanGate

Law student Anees Majeed from Kashmir who lost five relatives at sea grieved at funeral prayers for empty coffins as Pakistani interior minister, Rana Sanaullah, confirmed that at least 350 Pakistani citizens were on the boat that sank in Greece on June 14.

However, in light of the Titan submersible incident that took the lives of five men (including 2 Pakistani men from the Dawood family) in the depths of the ocean, the disparity in international attention between both the boat and the sub has caused an outrage in Pakistan - realizing the different values on human lives depending on status and wealth.

“We were shocked to know that millions would be spent on this rescue mission,” Majeed expressed, adding: “They used all resources, and so much news came out from this search. But they did not bother to search for hundreds of Pakistanis and other people who were on the Greek boat."

“This is a double standard … they could have saved many of the people if they wanted, or at least they could have recovered the bodies.”

An anonymous senior journalist at a major Pakistani outlet said: “It’s not the fault of five men that hundreds of people died off Greek shores. But it is the fault of a system where the class disparities are so huge", noting that “when people point that out, it is misunderstood as hatred.”

With over 300 deaths, Sanaullah stated that the toll exceeded any terror attack in Pakistani history.

14 suspects in connection with alleged human trafficking have been arrested in Pakistan as it had a day of national mourning.

Measuring grief

“It’s sad that a submarine carrying five rich people was given much more consideration, coverage, and importance than the migrants on the Greek boat,” said Abdul Karim, a shopkeeper who lost a cousin and uncle on the boat.

“Millions of dollars must have been spent to rescue the rich, but for the poor, there’s no such opportunity. Even the Pakistani government was not paying any heed to the issue.”

Assistant professor of anthropology at Union College in New York, Arsalan Khan, stated that intense media coverage in Pakistan and abroad regarding the Dawood family was overpowering the attention that should have also been given to those who lost their lives on the boat.

“The response to the Titanic sub has been much more empathetic and full of grief". Khan added that such an imbalance highlights unequal values given to different human lives, by society and governments.

The difference between the journeys of Titan and the migrant boat was that one was taken for adventure and pleasure and the second, was in search of a better life.

“I know one thing: poor people would take this deadly journey again as they are living in misery in Pakistan and economic conditions are unbearable,” said Majeed. “The governments would do better to stop this, rather than drowning them in the open sea.”