Child labour

Cases relating to violence against child domestic workers are, unfortunately, increasing rapidly in our society. Many employers are guilty of treating the domestic help in a horrible manner. We often come across pictures or videos in which bruised faces of children, and girls and boys in their teens can easily be seen. Such heart-wrenching videos and pictures unveil the mistreatment they receive at the hands of their employers.

The now viral video of a young girl, Uzma, is another example of violence against children. Uzma, who had been working as a maid for the last eight months in Lahore, had been subjected to the worst kind of physical and mental torture. Her vile employers beat her to death only because she ate from the plate of their daughter. If reports are to be believed, the helpless girl was even given electric shocks. What is even more horrifying is the fact that her killers tossed her body in a drain. What has our society come to? Don’t we have an inch of humanity left? The women who were behind the brutal and highly condemnable murder must be dealt with strictly.

Shazim Shujrah

Shikarpur

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In our country, incidents relating to the maltreatment of domestic servants and the violation of labour rights have increased manifold. It has been observed that owners of unregistered workshops often refuse to pay the statutory minimum wages to their workers and hire labour on short-term verbal contracts without job security and benefits. It is ironic that when it comes to charitable donations, Pakistanis are so generous that they collectively contribute more than one percent of GDP to charity, as reported by Stanford Social Innovation Review.

This dichotomy prevails due to misunderstood notions of morality and religion. Charity is considered a religious duty, while proper treatment of labourers is not perceived as a religious obligation. Ulemas, religious scholars and teachers should come forward to change this kind of thinking. The government should keep a check on the violation of labour rights and punished people who are involved in the exploitation of workforce.

Dr Najeeb A Khan

Islamabad