January 19, 2006

One of the most important topics being discussed by the media and NGOs in Pakistan is the issue of bonded labour these days. Pakistan, along with India and Nepal, lists amongst the main South Asian states where forced labour is rampant. Asia accounts for 9.5 million out of a global total of 12.3 million victims of this gruesome scenario.

Although the word bonded labour is often used with the colloquial meaning of severe poverty and dependence on the goodwill of others, there is no accepted technical definition, and a standardized set of tools that exist for analyzing and quantifying bonded labour in Pakistan. Like trafficking, bonded labour is an area of human experience that is highly complex and which evokes powerful and contradictory feelings amongst those attempting to understand it.

The system of debt bondage in Pakistan is the outcome of certain categories of indebtedness which have been prevailing for a long time, involving certain economically exploited, helpless and weaker sections of the society. This system originated from the uneven social structure characterized by feudal and semi-feudal conditions. Bonded labourers constitute perhaps the weakest section of the rural poor.

Although, historically, women and children in forced labour have received little attention, they are far more vulnerable than men in such situations. The system of indirect bondage –– women and children bonded through a male member of their family –– is an example. They are also subject to excessive workloads, often forced into domestic service as part of the arrangement.

Apart from this, women and children are especially vulnerable to physical and sexual abuse. It is said that women are often “bought and sold” when landlords agree on transfer of debt. Needless to say, the woman herself is not consulted in most cases.

The media has been focussing on these unfortunate people. The voices of women, children, and men who are enslaved, traded and trafficked, and the accounts of their experiences, are very similar. During the past few years, different organizations and individuals have done a number of researches. According to a research article published in The journal titled Bonded labour in Pakistan: Impact of Policy, Law and Economy, thousands of haris are living in makeshift camps near Hyderabad, where they have sought refuge from the oppression of debt bondage. Those who escape bondage are just a fraction of millions across the country in agriculture as well as in industry.

Responsibility for this situation of gross exploitation rests entirely with the powerful landowners in Sindh who own vast tracts of land, and control political life. Legal safeguards-such as the Sindh Tenancy Act (1950) and the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act of 1992 –– barely apply in the province. The “social gap” -–– that is, the difference between rich and poor as indicators of educational, health or other standards of attainment -–– hardly effects these people as they have no idea of what is required in a social system.

Millions of children are sold in bonded labour in South Asia, just because their parents were bonded to their masters or landlords in lieu of some debts or loans. Almost all South Asian societies bear the burden of this, one way or the other. During the year 2003, ILO signed an MoI (Memorandum of Intent) with Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund. Through this MoI, PPAF has extended its cooperation to link its micro-credit facilities and related services to families in bonded labour under different ILO programmes.

Over the years, certain pressures have been put on the landed elite due to the continuous efforts of the NGOs, which have borne fruit in some cases. Sajjo, a bonded labourer for 15 years, seems to be casual about his anguish. “I don’t know how much my forefathers had borrowed from my landlord’s family, but when I grew up, I was taken into bonded labour, and then my wife and children, too, worked for them.” “We never received wages, but were given two meals a day. One fine morning I was told that I was free. For me, it was a moment of surprise and happiness that came after so many years.” He is one among the hundreds of bonded labourers freed in the area.

The cycle of inter-generational exploitation and bonded labour in the country is due to the survival of traditional systems such as feudalism. The case of kidnapping of nine children from the village of Manobheel, which has been ignored by the law-enforcement agencies for nine years, is the main issue. It is a vicious and ruthless cycle that leaves the vulnerable sections little choice for survival.

The bonded labour system in all likelihood in the history of the world, will not reveal a more comprehensive example of cruel and heartless exploitation. “The roots of such an exploitative system are historical, and the crux of the problem revolves around the basic question of land holdings. In spite of various land settlements, the dominance of oligarchy ensures that the bonded labourers remain landless as per tradition. Even during the terms of democracy, the then prime ministers of Pakistan, were not able to free the bonded labourers and allot any productive land to them. Thus, without any significant land holdings and no historical experience of off-farm activities, the survival option for the bonded labourers remained the same.

The number of the poor is increasing in the country. What it basically signifies is a situation in which a large section of the population is pushed to the margins of a society, for whatever reason. Social scientists and lawmakers have not bothered to look into this very important issue. Awareness, advocacy and empowerment of freed bonded labourer groups is a vital issue, and it needs the attention of not only political scientists and sociologists but also that of economists, historians, geographers, public administrators, legislators, the executive and judiciary.

There are many forms of exploitation in our country and many kinds of injustices and violence. But slavery is exploitation, violence and injustice rolled into one. What good is our economic and political power, if we cannot use it to free slaves?

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