[DAWN] KARACHI: Parliamentarians, government officials, trade unionists, police and civil society members at a policy dialogue on Saturday called for amendments to the Bonded Labour Abolition Act, 1992 by incorporating harsh punishment to those involved in slavery of labourers.Gonna free the serfs, are they? Watch the hands not the lips.
The audience was given a proposed draft of amendments to the law that the speakers stressed be made in form of a bill and tabled before the Sindh Assembly for approval.
The programme was organised by the Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (Sparc) at a hotel.
Panellists, many of them themselves parliamentarians, were of the opinion that strict punishment should be awarded to those who were involved in slavery of labour.
Dr Sikandar Mandhro, minister for parliament affairs, said brick kilns and the agriculture sector in Pakistain provided employment to 45 per cent of the total workforce but the same sector was also plagued with the worst slavery practices.
He said feudalism was a mindset that prevailed not just in rural areas but also in urban centres. "It is a mindset and it will come to an end slowly and gradually," he said.
Dr Mandhro agreed to the notion that the law against bonded labour should be strict so that the offenders should not easily get remedies from courts. He showed his willingness to move this bill in the assembly.
Dr Seema Zia, a Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf
...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is
Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations....
politician, said it was alarming that only four cases were registered in the country under the bonded labour law in the past 22 years, and even those offenders might have got bail from courts.
She said Pakistain was a signatory to many international treaties but bonded labour still existed unchallenged.
Sorath Thebo, a politician of the Pakistain Moslem League-Nawaz, said India was progressing, as there was no more feudalism and the same path could bring prosperity to the country.
Haji Shafi Mohammad Jamote, another PML-N politician, said there should be a change in the definition of bonded labour, to restrain police from registering cases against fishermen whose children helped them on boats.
Earlier, Hyderabad DIG Sanaullah Abbasi, who was a keynote speaker, presented the draft of proposed amendments to the law for dialogue.
The officer said society was conservative to its core and SHOs generally did not register cases relating to bonded labour, which had to be changed with rigorous laws. He recommended six-year imprisonment for the coppers who refused to register cases.
In the amended law, he said the burden of proof would be on the landlord, as bonded labourers were a vulnerable element. Besides, if any investigative officer was found involved in a deliberately flawed investigation and weak prosecution, he would be imprisoned for three years. He suggested to the audience that such cases be prosecuted in sessions courts where judges were made heads of the vigilance committees.
Besides labour department officials, Iqbal Detho of Save the Children, Karamat Ali of the Pakistain Institute of Labour Education and Research and Kashif Bajeer and Zahid Ahmed Thebo of Sparc also spoke.