Daily Times

The children in Pakistan are engaged with various forms of child labour at a young age. Child labour is widespread in every nook and corner of the country and most rampant in large cities.

It is hard to imagine the condition of those small children who are forced to be child labourers at the age of 5 to 16 in serious jeopardy and to make a living.

To my recent visit in one of the eateries of the Turbat city, I encountered two children serving eating stuff to the customers. I was bewildered to witness such tender-aged youngsters indulge in such troublesome activities.

During another visit, our car was punctured in the highway and we went to a nearby shop to get the tire repaired; however, to our surprise, the mechanic in the shop was a small child of 9 .He looked like an animal who was forced to fight the unconditional and hostile environment of the world in a young age.

As we got the tyre repaired, dismayed, I inquired, “Why have you turned to such a work in spite of attending school?”

“I work as an apprentice here owing to the minute income my father receives working in another garage. I was forced here just to meet my family’s financial crisis. I get free from here till 7 when muazzin summons for the azan and my body becomes numb and zoonked by working all day long. If I quit this temporary profession, then this will result in the deprivation of three times of meal for us. If only I could go to school”. Lamenting this, tears shredded down his cheeks.

It must come as a shock to most of us to ponder about the conditions of those children who are forced in this vicious cycle where they suffer mental and physical disorders. The children who are obliged to work in this cycle are the poorest subjects of the society, either being brutally tortured by life or poverty.

It is unfortunate to mention that a considerable number of youngsters are involved in this profession which deprives them of school and a respectful life. Child labour neither lets someone live with honour nor die with dignity.

Howbeit, in provinces like Balochistan, one cannot find a person without a story of a child who is forced in this scathe and so-called profession. Everyday deaths of children hit newspaper headlines and news channels and programmes but, sadly, no worthwhile efforts have been taken to surmount this despicable issue.

The reports indicate the decline of the child labour in rest of the provinces of the country; however, there is no evidence of decline in the number of child labourers in Balochistan.

In provinces like Balochistan, one cannot find a person without a story of a child who is forced in this scathe and so-called profession. Everyday deaths of children hit newspaper headlines and news channels and programmes but, sadly, no worthwhile efforts have been taken to surmount this despicable issue

This isn’t a rare thing in the province that the government always turns a blind eye to the instances of those children who are forced in child labour, trafficking, prostitution, robbery and beggary and other problems with adverse outcomes, for this results in the destruction of the children physically and mentally. Most of the time, these children resort to sabotage professions like robbery and emerge to become lethal criminals and remain constant threats to the society ,they dwell in, provoking one to question whether the Balochistan government has ever executed effective legislations to get rid of the imbroglio?

According to studies the assessment on child labour in the country was made in 1996 which exposed that a whopping 3.3 million children were working in this vicious circle across the country. Among which Balochistan’s share of this was a meagre 16 per cent.

A recent study by the Society for Empowering Human Resources (SEHR) shows that more than 10,000 children are working as labourers in Quetta of which 60 per cent are garbage pickers. The children work as carpenters, garbage collectors and at automobile workshops which has exacerbated the condition of the city.

Morosely, these children never attend school and have never seen the door of their class.

However, despite the article 11 (2) of the country’s constitution prohibits all forms of forced labour and human trafficking, the government turns out badly to address the long standing scourge of child labour which the poorest province is mired in. Withal, sub-article (3) of the constitution reads, “employment of children below the age of 14 years in any factory, mine and any other hazardous employment is prohibited.”

Those hapless children often remain illiterate and ignorant. Here the question arises: why are so many girls and boys out of school in the country despite the fact that Article 25-A of the Constitution orders the state to provide free and compulsory education to all the children aged 5 to 16 years?

Per contra, even millions and billions of boys and girls are engaged with certain improper works in the province that deprive them of quality education, freedom, health and some other certain basic rights.

Child labour is the main cause of acute poverty. The more poverty is reduced, the easier it becomes to persuade parents to halt their posterity in child labour at an age of school.

To curb the menace, the government employers and civil society should work altogether to serve as a catalyst to address ways for its eradication and other fundamental human rights violation.

More funds should be allotted for the impoverished people of the society so that they need not to send their children for work.

The success of every nation is the success of its youth. One sane puts it this way, “The foundation of every state is the education of its youth.”

To cut it short, the government needs to enact stringent laws regarding the eradication of the menace of child labour before the situation reaches the point of no return.

The writer is Turbat-base free columnist

Published in Daily Times, October 29^th 2018.