MUZAFFARGARH, Sept 30: Basti Hamzawali was once known a village of camel jockey children as 150 children from the village had been sent to the United Arab Emirates in last 15 years by their parents or agents. The UAE sent back these children to Pakistan last year and now these children have started a new life here, thanks to the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) and the district government.

The district government has set up a school with the help of Unicef in Hamzawali, 70 kilometre from Muzaffargarh, to enrol jockeys. The school has furniture, classrooms, drinking water facility, toilets and a library.

Executive District Officer (literacy) Shahid Bashir told Dawn 150 camel jockey children from Hamzawali were getting free education in the school.

The Child Protection Bureau pays Rs600 per child every month if his attendance is 80 per cent.

This year, 171 camel jockey children from Muzaffargarh were reunited with their families. A total of 200 children from Muzaffargarh were sent to the UAE to serve as jockeys. Up to 30 children are still awaiting their families in a shelter centre of Multan because they had kidnapped at early age by smugglers and now these children do not know about the whereabouts of their families.The EDO (literacy) said the school was providing education free of cost.

A former camel jockey, Shahid (not his real name), said he was happy to get education. He said that now he was 16-year-old and for the first time he was learning to read and write. He said when he came back to Pakistan, he was not happy because he thought that there would be no future for him.

“Through education, I believe that I will become a respectable man in society,” he said.

Besides the Unicef-sponsored school, 32 other former jockeys are getting education in seven other non-formal basic education centres in the area. EDO (community development) Malik Khair Muhammad Budh said the literacy department had approved three more non-formal basic education centres for Hamzawali and other surrounding areas.

District Coordination Officer (DCO) Dr Akhtar Nazir Warraich said a vocational training institute (VTI) would also be launched in Hamzawali. He said the school would be run by the Technical Education and Training Authority.

The EDO (literacy) said his department had sent three proposals to the Punjab government that for former jockeys; a vocational training institute should be started in Hamzawali; a teacher should be hired to teach them embroidery and methods of livestock artificial insemination.

City union nazim Mian Muhammad Hussain demanded the government construct a shelter centre and child protection institute in the district because most of the camel jockey children were from Muzaffargarh.

FIVE-MARLA LAND: The Revenue Department distribute allotment letters of five marla land each to 53 landless families of Muzaffargarh. Executive District Officer (Revenue) Dr Waseem Shamshad and Deputy District Officer (revenue) Qazi Zaffar Iqbal dished out the letters.

On the occasion, Nawab Iftikhar Ahmad Khan and other district officials of the Pakistan Muslim League-Q were present.
Nawab Iftikhar said the government had given land to the poor for houses and the chief minister had fulfilled his promise of providing shelter to the poor.

EDO Dr Waseem said the five-marla scheme had been started in the district in phases as we were verifying the details of landless people and preparing a list of the deserving in every tehsil of the district. Those who got the allotment letters praised the government for giving them land.

— Malik Tahseen Raza