Visit any roadside eatery or tea shop in Rawalpindi and you are bound to hear the popular chant “O chote idhar aa”. It translated into “come here, little one” and invariably refers to a boy likely to be between the ages of eight to 15 years old.
This is on the street although children are employed in equally large numbers as house help, where they are at the mercy of employers which sometimes results in horrible outcomes for the minors. This was in the case of an underage housemaid who was brutally tortured while working at the house of an Islamabad judge and another teenage girl who died after being raped and tortured at the house of a feudal lord in Sindh’s Ranipur district.
This is also the case in children employed at public places, who have to face the anger, mockery and abuse from their employers as well as customers.
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Despite that, underage workers remain the norm and not an aberration, making a mockery of two children protections laws in place in the province.
Rather, informal surveys suggest that the involvement of minors in the formal and informal workforce was on the rise with more children spotted selling flowers and cleaning car windows at traffic signals, ubiquitous at mechanic workshops, and as waiters at roadside establishments.
These children often receive extremely low salaries in addition to working more than eight hours a day. Some children complained that they had their salaries withheld if they took time off due to illness or domestic problems.
Until 2018–19, children who worked in brick kilns and worked as child labuorers were eligible for a programme under which they received schooling, uniform, books, and a school bag.
They were also provided a monthly stipend of Rs5,500. But this project was discontinued. Around 1800 children benefitted from the project.
However, its discontinuation meant that the beneficiaries were once again compelled to resume employment at the expense of their education.
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The labour welfare department acknowledges that it had failed to implement the Punjab Restriction of Employment of Children Act 2016 and the Punjab Prohibition of Child Labour at Brick Kilns Act 2016. Under the law, children under 15 years of age are prohibited from work. Even after that, they can work in specific professions under supervision.
The department has the power to submit a formal complaint against anybody found to be in breach of child labour laws. Those engaged in child labour may potentially face fines ranging from Rs50,000 to Rs500,000. However, the fines were not enforced, with the department failing to say why it was the case.
Samiullah Khan, the director of the labour welfare department in the Rawalpindi division, also failed to explain why his department had failed to implement the laws instead deflecting the question on the causes behind child labour.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 6th, 2023.
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