Daily Times

The world is full of 2 billion children out of which 152 million are estimated to be in child labor. Some estimates of the United Nations Children’s Fund states that 12 % of the children aged 5 to 14 in Asia are involved in child labor. Due to the absence of family planning in the states like India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, there are some acute forms of child labor such as bonded labor, trafficking, and child soldiers. Children are also at risk for various other forms of exploitation including sexual exploitation which includes the internet such as child sexual abuse materials; involving adults or other children exposing children to pornography.

Child labor is the exploitation of children through any form of effort/work that robs children of their childhood and affects their ability to join school like regular children. It is mentally, socially, physically, and morally harmful. Unfortunately, Pakistan is among the top countries with the highest rate of child labor. It is equal to brutality. Moreover, it is one of the core problems of the country that is increasing day by day. The main culprits behind this are uneducated and greedy parents who send their children, not to schools but hotels, mechanic shops to earn a small amount of money. One of the reasons behind the low literacy rate in Pakistan is Child Labor as our 23 million children do not go to school.

Irrespective of Pakistan’s introduction of the Fused Labor System (Abolition) Act 1992, fused labor still exists because of the state not having sufficient resources to impose child labor laws. In the year 2018, labor law organizations have operated contrary to child labor in Pakistan and are still working on the gaps that permit child labor to occur. According to the regulation, employers who use bonded labor risk punishment of imprisonment for a term of at least two years and a maximum of five years, or a fine of at least PKR 50,000 or both. It is a curse that a country came into existence of reality on the name of Islam has the highest child labor rate in Asia after India. We should look to Welfare states and learn from them the importance of education.

For 74 years, every government that came to power did nothing for the betterment of the country but just filled their pockets with money as much as they possibly could. In the Province of Sindh, 22 % of children ages 5 to 16 are working hard to feed themselves as well as their families. Around 11 million children in the country do domestic tasks & work in agriculture. Others work together with their families as bonded laborers in brick manufacturing. The use of this kind of forced child labor happens in Pakistan in the brick, coal, and carpet industries. UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) considers that children aged 4 to 14 make up to 90% of the carpet industry’s workforce. Workshop owners manipulate parents into believing that their children will learn new skills that outweigh any knowledge gained at school. Such manufacturers target children because they can pay them significantly less than adult weavers which allow them to compete with other companies by offering a quality product at a lesser price.

Due to access to brutality on laborers, a video was released recently in which a workshop owner could be seen beating his young worker brutally with a wire lock. The child (Faizan) is estimated to be aged around 8 years old. After the video went viral, the Punjab police took strict action against the culprit, and in a few hours, he was behind the bars. Mr. Sajid Kiani (DIG Operations) ordered SP city (Jahangir Hassan Watto) who further gave orders to SHO Shahdra Town (Muhammad Siddique Bhutta) to arrest the culprit (Waqar) and throw him behind the bars. It is the harsh reality of our society that a person is mercilessly beating his young innocent worker upon his late arrival to work and nobody is stopping him from doing that harsh act.

Is it necessary in our country that every action is taken after the evidence of the crime? Every time, a video goes viral and then the government takes the nails of consciousness upon the matter. When the father of that innocent boy was asked why he sent his child to earn at such a young age? He answered crying that I was forced because of poverty. The DIG said that people who oppress children shall be punished strictly. Moreover, he said, “children are our assets. At such a young age, their motive should be to get an education, not to earn money”. He further added, “We will take the responsibility for his education as well.” The DIG also gave an expression of solidarity to the victim’s father (Abdurrahman) and gave him gifts also.

The necessity of society demands that a permanent council should be made to keep the check and balance in the society. The council should be given the authority to check the reported cases like this throughout the country and what actions have been taken on such complaints. Furthermore, this time, the case got into surveillance due to the viral video but what about the rest of the cases that do not get the attention of any camera and operational police. There are several incidents that happen every day in our country in which some do not get reported while the rest who got reported do not get any further action upon them. It is the need of the hour that strict actions should be taken against such brutal crimes. Moreover, an amendment should be done in the constitution of Pakistan stating education as the basic need of our everyday life.

The Writer is a Senior Social Analyst & Chairman Pakistan Columnist Council and Can be found at figure786@hotmail.com