Last Friday, Polish border guards came across an underground tunnel. It was secretly dug beneath the border fence by unknown hands, with Pakistani workers running under it.
The tunnel started on the Belarusian side and stretched twenty meters into Poland. This is the second time something like this has been found this year.
Warsaw poured $407 million into building a 5.5-meter-high steel barrier. Another 71.8 million euros funded thermal cameras and motion sensors.
But the tunnels kept appearing anyway.
Workers as Border Currency
In April 2025, Minsk invited 150,000 workers from Pakistan. Belarus had 198,000 job openings countrywide, and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called this offer a gift.
By the end of April, Lukashenko admitted that only a few dozen actually arrived. Trade between the two countries hovered between $50 million and $65 million in 2020.
Plans to grow that trade to $1 billion quietly faded away.
Back during the 2021-22 border crisis, Belarus helped migration flows. Thousands from the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia found themselves stranded in forests near the borders of Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania.
Many lacked enough food or shelter and had no legal protection. Border guards in those countries responded with pushbacks. Dozens lost their lives.
Buying Time Through Movement
Belarusian state agencies organized travel for people coming from Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Security forces escorted them right up to the border.
They prevented them from turning back and helped damage the border fence.
Warsaw sees this as a tit-for-tat move against European Union sanctions, which came after the 2020 election and crackdown.
In May 2021, Lukashenko hinted Belarus would no longer stop migrants or drugs from entering the EU. By August, he claimed the EU had pushed Belarus into this stance.
Every wave of people crossing the border has a price. Each wave serves goals beyond job contracts.
Infrastructure Meets Intent
Poland finished its steel wall on June 30, 2022. The electronic surveillance system launched between late 2022 and early summer 2023.
The fence runs 186 kilometres and is equipped with 3,000 cameras with night vision plus motion detectors. Underground cables pick up vibrations in the soil.
Since January 2025, Polish border guards noted more than 26,700 attempts to cross. Over 60 attempts were made in just one day last week.
These tunnels show how deeply someone wants to get through. Someone figured that digging twenty meters under the ground costs less than other routes.
Hungary stumbled on three similar tunnels near Serbia between 2019 and 2020. One measured 34 meters long.
Economic Logic Without Moral Weight
Pakistan sent over 151,000 workers to Gulf countries in just the first quarter of 2025. Remittances surpassed $33 billion in 2024.
Every place counts when the goal is numbers. Every agreement signed boosts political stature.
Belarus sealed defense industry deals with Pakistan through 2027. Sharif’s visit gave Lukashenko a chance to appear as a respected international figure.
Yet, the West still refuses to recognize Lukashenko’s presidency post-2020.
Labor migration creates winners when workers earn money and remittances reach their home countries. The system works fine until workers start serving roles beyond employment.
Until borders slam shut and workers turn into pawns.
Pressure Applied Through People
In May 2025, Lithuania filed a case against Belarus at the International Court of Justice. The complaint accuses Belarus of breaking the Protocol against Smuggling of Migrants.
Lithuania claims that Belarusian state companies lured migrants with advertised travel packages. State officials escorted migrants to the Lithuanian border, giving them tools and instructions to cross.
The European Court of Human Rights reviewed three cases in February 2025. Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland faced criticism over how migrants were treated at the borders with Belarus.
Warsaw argues that Belarus directed these migration flows. Now the court has to decide how international law applies when human movement becomes a tool.
Migrants often pay $8,000 to $12,000 just to reach the Polish border from Afghanistan, Syria, or Iraq. They arrive legally in Belarus first.
Then, Belarusian officers leave them at night near barbed wire fences.
The Calculation Continues
Poland plans to finish the fortified border by mid-2025. Warsaw invested more than 2.5 billion zlotys in border security.
Deputy Interior Minister Maciej Duszczyk warned that Lukashenko might ramp up tensions or even damage Polish infrastructure.
The tunnels prove that people trying to cross are getting more inventive. They show just how desperation grows as walls get higher. Minsk fills labor shortages. Islamabad benefits from remittances. Everyone gains until pressure shifts somewhere else.
Those making their way to Belarus learn what migrants before them already know. Migration involves real risks. And those risks multiply when the host country answers to no one, respects no oversight, and neighbors wealthier lands.
The system runs just as designed. Borders hold memories longer than governments keep promises. The people caught between walls and tunnels live this truth first.
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