KARACHI, May 5: Khalid, the 10n-year-old boy who returned Pakistan a few days back from the United Arab Emirates, was handed over to his parents by the Overseas Pakistanis Foundation (OPF) here on Monday.
They boy stayed in the UAE for more than six years where he was made to play as ‘camel-kid’, a term used for a minor camel jockey. The OPF had given the boy in custody of Edhi Foundation as his parents were yet to be located at the time he returned home onboard the Shaheen Airlines flight No NL-090 on April 29.
Talking to Dawn at the OPF office, Khalid said, “I had been riding the camels for many years and fell down several a times but never sustained a serious injury. My employer used to beat me up on losing a race. Initially I used to get scared, but then began used to all this,” the boy said.
Khalid’s mother, Amna Bibi, who received her son at the OPF office, said that she had five sons and as many daughters. She said her husband, Mohammad Akram, was a farm worker. They once lived in Dr Mohammad Tufail Goth of Faiz Ganj in Khairpur before moving back to their ancestral village, Chak No 109 in Dera Ismail Khan some 10 years back.
“We are very poor. About six years ago, a woman, Shareefan Bibi, offered a ‘job’ in the UAE for one of my sons with a monthly pay of Dirham 500 (approximately Rs8,000). The pay was so attractive that I agreed to send Khalid to UAE and handed him over to the Bibi. Shareefan Bibi changed Khalid’s name to ‘Akram’ and took him, along with her own child, to that country. Over the six-year period of Khalid’s employment, we received about Rs100,000 in three instalments,” Amna Bibi revealed.
Mushtaq Ahmed, General Manager of the OPF, said that a man of Arab origin had brought Khalid to Pakistan Embassy for the renewal of passport. The embassy staff, he added, got suspicious and detained him.
Mr Ahmed said that the embassy had also recovered the boy’s dues of Dirham 9,200. His employer, Shaikh Rashed, had submitted a draft of Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank with the embassy, he said and added that the money would be restored to the boy as soon as the transactions were completed.
He said that a group of five/six camel-kids was also expected to arrive in the city on Tuesday.
