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LAHORE: There is nearly 6 million labour force in the brick kiln sector alone in the country out of which at least 3 million are in Punjab. They do not get the minimum wage which is Rs 1,295 per 1,000 bricks. Kiln workers are paid Rs 650-700 on average, says Mahr Safdar of the Bonded Labour Liberation Front (BLLF).

“One brick kiln engages 35-50 families which produce 50,000 raw bricks daily. If we assume that 40 families work on average at a brick kiln, the owners are paying them Rs 24,000 less every month and there are 30 thousand brick kilns in Punjab alone,” he goes on to say. There is no social protection for brick kiln workers, no social security card which means no health cover. In 2013 the Supreme Court in a decision ordered all the chief secretaries to inform how many social security cards were made every month, he recalls.

“In 2016, the government for the first time admitted that Bhatta labour and child labour is bonded labour,” he said. "Political will is needed to put an end to such exploitation," he said. How does the labour make its ends meet in this scenario, keeps one wondering.

Pakistan ranks 8th on the global slavery index. Earlier this month, the world observed the International Day for the abolition of slavery on December 2.

Hina Jilani, chairperson, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, who is on the UN Board for Abolition of Slavery, said brick kiln workers are certainly doing forced labour. “The way they are held in debt bondage and their movement restricted is all illegal. We have proposed that brick kiln labour must be recognised as industrial labour. In agriculture sector too, families are forced into servitude,” she said. She recalled the Arshad Masih case in which the Supreme Court took a suo motu notice. “Then there is the issue of forced marriage which is a contemporary form of slavery. These issues are the reason why Pakistan ranks 8th on the global slavery index. Even where legislation is there, implementation of laws is weak,” she said.

Then there is the 36 million labour force in the province according to the last Pakistan Labour Survey in 2018, which is suffering in the absence of inspection. They are labour from all sectors including agriculture. Many feel their situation is that of slaves. Labour leaders demand that the government lift the ban on inspection and ensure that the labourers get their due rights.

The Muttahida Labour Federation (MLF) Pakistan has called a labour conference on December 23 in Faisalabad. The MLF Pakistan’s Senior Vice President Muhammad Akbar views the workers’ situation as particularly bleak in the absence of labour inspection which the Punjab government banned last September.