September 09, 2006	Saturday	Sha'aban 15, 1427

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LAHORE, Sept 8: The fate of over 500 Pakistani camel jockeys in the United Arab Emirates hangs in the balance as the government has reportedly discontinued efforts to bring them back.

The UAE government, in collaboration with the Unicef (Middle East), had started sending back 1,000 Pakistani children under 16 years of age involved in camel races since June 2005 after a ban was enforced on their taking part in them.

Sources told Dawn on Friday that only 330 Pakistani children had arrived here till March this year and since then the government was not making serious efforts to bring back the remaining lot.

They said the UAE government had ordered the organisers of such races to hand over the children to it so that it could send them back to their homeland. There are reports that besides 330 camel kids about 100 have arrived here with their guardians and the government had not facilitated their return.

According to a UAE survey report, some 2,500 jockeys in the UAE belong to Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Sudan and Mauritius.

The 330 children were handed over to the Child Protection Welfare Bureau (Punjab) for reuniting them to their families and rehabilitation. Of them, 317 have been reportedly handed back to their families while the remaining are in the bureau.

CPWB director (programme) Zubair Ahmed Shad said a delegation of the bureau, headed by Dr Faiza Asghar, was scheduled to hold a meeting with the UAE authorities later this month to discuss the return of the remaining Pakistani jockeys.

He said the bureau was providing a stipend of Rs600 and a cycle to the school going children of the lot who maintained 80 percent attendance. Two youth clubs had been set up for recreation in areas where such children belonged, Mr Shad said and added that the skilled training was also being provided to them so that they could earn a respectable livelihood.

Most of the children retuned from the UAE belong to the southern Punjab and they were not more than five when they had reached the Gulf. “They have no knowledge who had brought them there (Middle East), however, they remember their native towns. They are fluent in Arabic and Seraiki,” says a bureau official.

Besides the UAE, Qatar and Oman have also reportedly banned the use of children in camel races.