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KARACHI, Aug 6: Participants of the Hari Conference on bonded labour held here on Monday under the auspices of an NGO, ActionAid, voiced their concern over rampant bonded labour and exploitation of peasants by landlords and authorities in Sindh. They particularly condemned inhuman treatment meted out to the haris generation after generation over outstanding Taqawi loans.
They called for reconstituting district vigilance committees to check the menace, demanding that nazims be replaced with a representative of the judiciary.
The participants called for granting lands to the landless haris, and urged political parties to include the issues of haris and bonded labour in their manifestos.
The conference adopted several resolutions calling for safeguarding rights of haris and protecting their interests.
One of the resolutions demanded distribution of lands among the landless haris in accordance with the agricultural reforms announced on Jan 5, 1977, and suggested that the piece of land under the use of a hari family for residential purposes be transferred to the family by its owner, be it the landlord or the government. It also called for physical possession of the lands, granted under the reforms, to the haris concerned.
The conference urged the government to arrange for the registration of haris under the Sindh Tenancy Act (STA) so that all transactions with them could be documented.
It demanded implementation of the STA after incorporating in it the recommendations of the haris’ organizations.
It further demanded that all illegal and fake loan claims by landlords be declared false, and the landlords seeking recovery of any unusual loan other than the Taqawi seasonal loan from his haris be arrested and punished.
The conference called for the setting up of hari courts under the STA to settle disputes between landlords and haris, besides restoring justice to the hari men, women and children subjected to physical and sexual assault, kidnapping and other crimes. It also asked the government to ensure a social welfare system for haris and grant them all the facilities offered by the social security scheme.
During the deliberations, haris from Sanghar gave their testimony. Prominent among the speakers were Iqbal Ahmad Detho, Barrister Zafar Khan, Syed Zulfikar Shah, Sabihuddin Ghousi and Syed Zulfiqar Shah.
It was noted that there were different definitions of the term “bonded labour” in different countries. In Pakistan, bonded labour, also called “debt labour” (Peshgi), is rampant as people pledge themselves and their families against the loans taken from landlords. However, there is little or no legal documentation of such loans, which are not time-bound and continue to compound as time passes by. If the borrower dies before repaying the loan and the interest thereof, the amount is automatically transferred to the next generation. A hari inherits loan or bondage the day he is born.
In addition to all other evils that make up bonded labour, regional and ethnic discrimination is an inherent part of it. Most of the labourers enslaved in agricultural bondage in Sindh belong to the scheduled caste.
The speakers observed that bonded labour in the agriculture sector was a direct result of the non-implementation of land reforms and, therefore, more prevalent in Pakistan than in India and Bangladesh, where feudalism was abolished.
The conference also dealt with child bonded labour and referred to a Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) report which estimates that almost 10 million children work to support their families. According to other estimates, 25 million children do not go to school and, therefore, are potential child labourers. Similarly in bonded labor, as a natural consequence of the lack of educational facilities and extreme poverty, children of bonded labourers start work with their parents from an age as young as four or five and continue with it till the debt is paid, which never does.
The Darshan Masih case in 1989 led to the formulation of the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act 1992. Under the rules notified after a lapse of three years, District Vigilance Committees (DVCs) headed by the district magistrate/deputy commissioner concerned were formed. The committees were supposed to provide legal aid to bonded labourers and ensure their rehabilitation. However, the ensuing years proved that like many other such committees, the DVCs also existed on papers.
In 2001, the DVCs were reconstituted and with the district nazim concerned being the head of his committee, thus further diluting the local remedy available with the district magistrate. Unfortunately, for the bonded laborers, this spelt more trouble because most of the district nazims belonged to landlord families, who would subject these voiceless bonded labourers to subjugation and cruel subordination, it was stated.
It was observed at the conference that there had been little improvement in the bonded labour system; vigilance committees remained dormant, the fund established for the rehabilitation and welfare of freed bonded labourers remained unutilized, and those subjecting haris to inhuman treatment never arrested or punished.
The non-implementation of the relevant laws and rules was attributed mainly to the hold of feudal lords and bureaucratic elite over the state machinery.
