LAHORE, July 13: Fourteen children being smuggled to the United Arab Emirates, allegedly to work as camel jockeys, have been rescued by the Federal Investigation Agency so far this year from the Lahore Airport, FIA officials told Dawn here on Saturday.

The FIA has also arrested eight women accompanying the children to the Gulf state. Five of the children belong to Dera Ghazi Khan and one each to Peerwala, Sheikhupura and Rahim Yar Khan. The officials said such cases could be detected only if the ‘family’ was travelling to the Gulf for first time, carried no luggage, belonged to the poorest segment of society or the children bore no resemblance with the ‘siblings’ travelling with them.

In the latest such case, earlier this month, a woman, Jinda of Peerwala, was taking four children of the same age group to the UAE. “The documents were found valid. However, the children, whose ages were given between 6-10 years on their passports, looked no more than three years old and there was no family resemblance.”

An FIA deputy director said in all these cases the women stuck to the plea that they were the mothers of the children. In most cases, he said, the women transported their own children as well as those of their relatives and neighbours. In case of a family carrying its own children, he said, the Agency could do nothing.

He said he was not aware of a case of children being kidnapped for the purpose. Extreme poverty forced parents to agree to send the children. The parents were assured by the “sponsors” that camel racing was safe.

In July last year, 13 child smugglers, including four women, were arrested in a raid at a local hotel. The women, who were taking their own children abroad, claimed that they were being sent to work in the Gulf state. They said they had agreed to let their children by camel jockeys. Police said they were paid between Rs400,000 and Rs600,000 per child.

The FIA official said somebody convicted of child smuggling can be sentenced to seven years imprisonment or fined.

Camel races, each involving 30 to 40 children, are held in Abu Dhabi and Dubai during winter. Racing camels are lean and the ideal weight of the rider is 15 kg. The rider is reportedly strapped to the camel’s back as it is very difficult for a child to maintain his position.

Most of the children smuggled to the Gulf belong to southern Punjab. According to Human Rights Commission of Pakistan reports, the practice of sending the children began from Rahim Yar Khan in 1979. Arab dignitaries’ hunting trips in Cholistan in 1970s were said to have encouraged this. The parents or guardians received presents in cash or kind. This brought visible prosperity and tempted people in the neighbouring areas to send their children as well.

Most of the camel jockeys are now from Pakistan and Bangladesh. Jockeys were earlier procured from Sudan and Oman.

A report the Anti-Slavery International says over 360 children, mostly from the Punjab are being kidnapped every year and smuggled to the Gulf states to be camel jockeys.

The press reports quoted by the HRCP in its annual report 2001 say at least 40,000 children have been smuggled to the Gulf from Pakistan during the last 10 years.— Zulqernain Tahir