LAHORE, June 12th: Aqsa Batool, a 14-year old, worked at a house in Samanabad. At the end of every month, her parents would collect her salary. In April this year, Batool died. The post mortem reports said she had been beaten up but her employers said that she died from an electric shock. Society for the Protection of Child Rights got an FIR registered. However, there has been no progress on the case so far. It is rumoured that the employers and the girl’s parents have agreed on ‘compensation’. Since January, nine cases have been reported of severe torture on children employed as domestic workers. Five of them have died. According to SPARC, at least 40 cases of torture on children working as domestic workers have been reported in the province since 2010. A policy has yet to be … [Read more...]
Bonded labour?: Court orders recovery of 17 daily wagers
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...]
Does poverty stem human trafficking in Pakistan?
KARACHI, June 10: When she was a child, her mother often said daughters bring good fortune, but now it seems a curse. 11-year-old Sana, who lives at a shelter home now, was sold by no one else, but her own parents to a couple for Rs 2,000 per month. Coming from the rural areas of Punjab, the child was sold into domestic servitude by the parents knowingly. Sana started working as domestic help at the couple’s house, who owned her, while her family was sent Rs 2,000 in advance at the beginning of each month. She lived in Gulberg with her buyers, who made her work for extended periods of time with barely enough food or at times, no food. Her ‘employers’ tortured her for a couple of years physically as well as mentally. It is not the only case in our society, nor an isolated … [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...]
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...]