LAHORE, June 21: Most of the children, who returned from the UAE on Tuesday, revealed that their parents had been instrumental in making them camel jockeys. “The UAE was a good place as we were earning a handsome money. Our future is uncertain here,” they told Dawn at the Child Protection Welfare Bureau.

They said they used to earn between 800 and 2,000 dirhams a month, besides receiving another 50 to 100 dirhams for winning a race.

They said their fathers received their salaries from the camel owners, as they also worked in the Middle East as labourers. In some cases, their parents came from Pakistan twice a year to collect their salaries.

The children also revealed that their parents had shifted them there along with their brothers to augment their income.

Shaukat Ali, 13, said he was six when his parents took him to the UAE along with his younger brother, Sajjad Ali, from Rahim Yar Khan.

He said: “After imparting about one-and-a-half months’ training on how to ride a camel, his owner started using me and my brother in the races.

“We woke up at 4am daily and used to feed and clean the animals (camels). The race usually started at 9am and continued for two hours. They gave us only two meals in a day — one at 12 noon and the other at 8pm — to maintain our weight less than 35 kilograms, which is considered to be ideal for the job.

“In the afternoon, we took a nap and after Asr prayers we again got back to work. After taking evening meals, we used to watch cartoons and Indian movies before going to bed at 10pm. We were given 2,000 dirhams each per month, and the money was collected by our father every month.”

Shaukat said he wanted to go back to his native town along with his brother (who was asleep after the journey) to live with his family.

Mukhtar Ali, 14, said he was about five when he came here along with his brothers — Tariq and Sattar — and parents. He said his parents left the country after getting them recruited as jockeys.

He said his owner was a tightfisted person, who only gave 700 dirhams to each of them. He said his father used to come after every three months to collect their income.

“I am happy that we have contributed to our family to ease financial burden on our parents,” said Mukhtar, who had no regrets in losing his childhood to camel sport.

He, however, was reluctant to reveal his whereabouts fearing a legal action against his parents.

All children were aged between four and 15 years.

According to a UAE preliminary survey report, some 3,000 children under the age of 16 are working as camel jockeys. Of them, at least 2,000 are Pakistanis while the remaining belong to Bangladesh, Sudan and Mauritius.

The UAE government has reportedly banned the children under 16 in the camel race. It has started handing over the recovered children to their respective countries.

According to reports, most of the children smuggled to the Gulf belong to southern Punjab. The practice of sending children to the UAE is said to have kicked off from Rahim Yar Khan in 1979.