The government should take drastic steps to eradicate the bonded labour system, which has been abolished but still exist in most parts of the country.
| I think we abolished indentured servitude sometime before the Delcaration of Independence... |
The bonded labour system is prohibited under Article 11 Clause 2 of the Constitution.
| Guess that's the diffo between theory and practice, huh? |
The majority of the bonded labour system’s victims live in poverty and are forced to accept whatever work they can get. Advocate Ajmal Khan Khattak, chairman of the Legal Aid and Human Rights Society, said that more than 600 families, the majority of whom are Afghans, work in bonded labour conditions in the 230 brick kilns in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. At a news conference on Saturday, he said it is deplorable that the bonded labour system has been formally abolished, but the system’s practices of confining labourers and bringing labourers on peshgi or advance payments exists in many places in the country while responsible authorities turn a blind eye.
| That's why we have baksheesh, right? |
He said people are forced to live under miserable conditions and the employers, specifically the owners of the brick kilns, allegedly ignore their fundamental rights. Mr Khattak said labourers at different brick kilns get a meagre Rs 135 per 1000 bricks whereas the rate specified in 1995 was Rs 190 per 1000 bricks. He said female workers are often molested at the kilns and few have the courage to lodge reports in police stations against the owners of the brick kilns.
| ... since they're then liable to stoning. |
He said there have been a number of applications to district administrations in the twin cities to conduct raids at various brick kilns and release the labourers, but there has been little action by authorities. |