NAWABSHAH: The court of second additional sessions judge Ms Zahida Sikander on Monday set at liberty 16 bonded labourers, including men and women, and their 14 children who were recovered from a farm near Daulatpur.

Police raided the farmland of landlord Ghulam Mohammad on the court’s directive which received an application from one Mir Khan Lashari, a labourer, seeking recovery of his family members.

The freed labourers belonged to Lashari community who had come to work at the farmland from Allah Dino Lashari village in Tando Mohammad Khan district.

They had been working on the farmland for the last eight months during which the landlord never allowed them to visit their home nor gave them money in case of illness, said Mr Lashari.

Police sources said the labourers did not appear to be captives as they were sitting in fields near Malwah branch at the time of the raid.

Published in Dawn, March 20th, 2018