Forced Labour: 35 workers recovered on court order

MULTAN: As many as 35 kiln workers and their families were recovered on Friday from the private prison of a landlord in Jampur, sub-district of Rajanpur, police said.

Khursheed Ahmed, a daily wage labourer, had submitted in an application at the Multan Bench of the Lahore High Court that 10 families of labourers were taken from Multan to Jampur to work at a kiln. He said when the families were being taken to Multan they had been told that they would be paid double the amount they were getting in Mulran. He said they were also told that they could settle in Jampur. Ahmed said the landlords, Muhammad Ameer and Shahid Khan, shifted the families to a private prison of theirs and made them work for half of what they had been originally offered. He said he was the only person who managed to escape the prison. Ahmed said he had complained to Jampur Saddar SHO but his complaint was ignored.

He said he had then fled to Multan and submitted an application before the Multan Bench of the Lahore High court. On Friday, the court ordered recovery of the kiln workers and their families. The court also ordered action against the Saddar SHO in accordance with law. There were 10 children and 12 women among those recovered.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 30^th, 2013.