KARACHI, Aug 2: Two more camel-kids reached here on Friday morning from the United Arab Emirates, which has recently banned young boys from taking part in camel racing.

Ahmed, aged 9, and Hameed, aged 10, sons of Imam Din, were deported from Dubai by the authorities and they were handed over to the Pakistan Overseas Foundation on their arrival at Quaid-i-Azam International Airport on emergency passports.

At least six young camel-kids have been deported from the UAE over the past one week following the orders of the camel racing federation chief and minister of state for foreign affairs, Sheikh Hamdan bin Zaid al-Nahayan, banning jockeys below 15 years of age and weighing less than 45 kilogram ahead of the racing season in October.

The two young brothers, hailing from southern Punjab, are believed to have been used as camel jockeys, though they told the FIA’s immigration staff at the airport that they served as domestic servants in the Gulf state.

They said the majority of such children belonged to the poverty-stricken regions of Dera Ghazi Khan, Rajanpur, Rahimyar Khan, etc, where families volunteered their children for the centuries-old tradition of camel racing in Gulf states.

According to the Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Aid, the “sadistic and pre-meditated” choice of young children as jockeys in the traditional Arab sport was a recent practice dating back to the early 1970s.

The immigration sources said the number of returning camel-kids might swell in the immediate future following the recent ban imposed by the UAE authorities.