Forced labour: LHC orders release of 19 kiln workers

LAHORE: Justice Rauf Ahmad Sheikh of the Lahore High Court on Thursday ordered the release of 19 kiln workers, including seven children, recovered from illegal detention at a kiln in Kasur. A man named Zulfiqar had moved a habeas corpus petition for the recovery of his relatives from the detention of kiln owner Haji Razzaq. He claimed that the kiln owners had not been paying them the agreed upon salary and when they demanded their full wages, he locked them up. He alleged that the detainees were being tortured and forced to work by the kiln owner. They were not given proper food, he said. He also alleged that contractor Akhtar Muhammad had criminally assaulted the women workers.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 18^th, 2012.