Irresponsible parents should be held responsible for sending their innocent children to earn money
ISLAMABAD: Recently, the media highlighted an incident that occurred in Lahore in which a family beat a little girl, who was working for them, so badly that anybody with a heart would have had tears in their eyes to see the innocent child covered with scars on her face. Here, I would like to take the opportunity to say this: the media reports only the cases which are in the hands of NGOs; otherwise, cases which are not raised with NGOs are never highlighted to this extent.
My question is: who is responsible for such incidents? The government, irresponsible parents, society, or those who beat the poor children for no reason? I believe, first of all, irresponsible parents should be held responsible for sending their innocent children to earn money. This is a major issue that our society faces. People, despite the paucity of resources at their disposal, have no qualms in giving birth to more and more children. In most cases, the poor have almost made it a habit to have as many children as possible so that through them they can earn more and more money. There have even been cases where many of the fathers of such children are drug addicts and live on the money their offspring earn for them. I have talked to many such parents and have asked them the reason behind sending their children to work for abusive employers. The answers I get are often along the lines of, ‘But it is God’s will, what can we do about it?’ Little do they know that invoking God’s name in such matters is quite ironic because even our religion lays down strict rules to ensure that children are given their rights.
Abid Saeed
Published in The Express Tribune, February 23rd, 2015.
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