PESHAWAR, June 12th: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on June 11 directed the police to recover 17 people, including women and children, allegedly held in illegal custody at a brick kiln. A division bench comprising PHC Chief Justice Dost Muhammad Khan and Justice Qaisar Rashid issued the orders while hearing a habeas corpus petition filed by Sharif Zada, a resident of Charsadda, through his counsel Naveed-ur-Rehman. Zada said his immediate family and the families of his brother and son-in-law had been earning their livelihood as daily wagers at a brick kiln owned by Abdul Rehman in Shobala, Telaband for the past eight months. He added Rehman had loaned them Rs160,000 (Rs53,334 for each family). “He (Rehman) deducts Rs2,000 from each labourer and a total of Rs64,000 has been … [Read more...]
44 recovered from private jail
SANGHAR, June 7: Following the court's order, police raided a private jail of a landlord, situated at Nayaabad area of the city, and recovered 44 detainees, FP news desk reports on June 6. The detainees included 22 children, eight women and twelve men who were forced to do bonded labor at the jail. Recovered people were freed to live their free lives. Published by Daily The Frontier Post on June 7, 2013 … [Read more...]
Provinces okay action plans against child, bonded labour
ISLAMABAD, June 4: All provincial labour departments agreed on action plans to revise labour legislations regarding child and bonded labour and subsequent actions. Moreover, the Ministry of Human Resource Development and provincial labour departments have also agreed on action plans to improve reporting on International Labour Organisation (ILO) Conventions. These action plans are spread over three months to two years. The action plans also include steps to strength the capacity of labour inspection, awareness creation, and improved reporting for policy actions, and computerisation of labour inspection system. This was agreed in a four-day workshop organised by the ILO, and was partially funded by the Canadian International Development Agency, at a local hotel from May 29 to June 1, … [Read more...]
27 bonded labourers rescued
THATTA, June 3: Twenty-seven bonded labourers, including seven women and 10 children, were recovered after the police raided an agricultural farm near Ghorabari early on May 31 on the orders of district and sessions court Thatta. The sessions court had given orders for raid after a petition was moved by a relative, Jai Ram Kolhi, of the labourers in illegal custody by the Fazal Laghari Agricultural Farm located in Samki taluka near the coastal town of Ghorabari. These labourers were to be employed as land tillers but had been held hostage for a long time without payment of wages. Thatta district and session judge Abdul Razaque Memon had ordered immediate recovery and production of the labourers in court. Following the raid, the police brought Sonu Kolhi, Bhambho Kolhi, Anand … [Read more...]
170m suffer as bonded labour in country
Islamabad, May 27, 2013: Veeru Kohlan, who contested elections on general seats from PS 50 Hyderabad May 24 said there were 1,700,000 persons in Pakistan who suffered as bonded labourers at the hands of big landlords. “ I can take the issue of bonded labourers freedom to the parliaments of Pakistan” said Veeru, addressing a ceremony here to share the experiences of women who contested elections on general seats. Sharing her remarks in the ceremony, organized by Potohar Organization for Development Advocacy (PODA), Veeru claimed, “This time I lost elections as my voters were not allowed to cast votes”, adding, “I will not give up my struggle”. Kohlan claimed that she went door to door to meet her voters and on the day of the election adding that her voters were not allowed to … [Read more...]