The South Asian: The Saga of Bonded Kiln Workers

June 09, 2008

The Saga of Bonded Kiln Workers

The recent events of bonded workers in Sindh present the unwillingness of Pakistani administration to recognize the plight of slave labor and provide justice to them.

June 3rd

This is to share with all of you that on 3^rd June, 2008 kiln workers gave application to District Session Judge Hyderabad for freeing 57 people from bondage from four kiln owners of Hyderabad district. On 4rth June (today), 2008 the said judge ordered the police station of the area to raid the kilns and recover the people. Police raided the four kilns and recovered the people who were in inhumane condition there. They appeared in the court and gave their statements. District Session Court Judge issued final orders of freeing the people and ordered the police to bring the culprits (kiln owners) before the court with immediate effect.

During the raid GRDO volunteers, advocate for the people Mr. Shehzado Saleem Nahiyo and others accompanied the police. GRDO has settled them on temporary basis at Azad nagar, a village established by GRDO and Ationaid Pakistan near Hyderabad.

Following is the detail of freed people and kilns from where they were recovered by the police;

S NO	Name of recovered one	S/O	Age	Kiln owner
1	Mohammad Umar	Allah bachayo		Shehzad Pathan
2	Sabhagi	M Umar	50	Do
3	Lakha dino	do	16	Do
4	Ali Ghulam	do	12	Do
5	Qaisar khan	do	14	Do
6	Manzoor	do	6	Do
7	Asghar	do	8	Do
8	Mohammad bota	Sher Mohammad		Abdul Sattar pathan
9	Hajran	w/o M Boto	30	Do
10	Majeedan	D/O M Boto	14	Do
11	Majeed	S/O M Boto	12	Do
12	Rasheeda	D/O M Boto	10	Do
13	Marya	do	8	Do
14	Shehzadi	do	6	Do
15	Siddique	S/O M Boto	4	Do
16	Rasheed	do	3	Do
17	Jameena	D/O M Boto	1	Do
18	Sikandar Ali	S/O Mir Mohammad		Basher Khan pathan
19	Akbar	do	34	Do
20	Zulekhan	D/O Sikandar Ali	38	Do
21	Talib	Mir Mohammad	30	Do
22	Rehmat	W/O Talib	28	Do
23	Asghar	S/O Mir Mohammad	26	Do
24	Gulistan	W/O Mir Mohammad	26	Do
25	Ghulam Hyder	S/O Mir Mohammad	26	Do
26	Niyamat	Widow of Mir	70	Do
27	Noor Mohammad	S/O Liaqat	26	Do
28	Nimlan	W/O Noor Mohammad	24	Do
29	Allah Warayo	S/O Ghulam Hyder	60	Do
30	Hurmat	W/O Allah Warayo	50	Do
31	Ajeeba	D/O Akbar	10	Do
32	Dagal	do	8	Do
33	Toti	do	2	Do
34	Bago	S/O Akbar	2	Do
35	Kehar	S/O Sikandar	6	Do
36	Sabir	Talib	4	Do
37	Shame	Mir Mohammad	7	do
38	Mehar	S/O Mir Mohammad	7	Do
39	Hanifa	D/O Mir Mohammad	12	Do
40	Arshad	S/O Noor Mohammad	6	Do
41	Shahid	Do	3	Do
42	Rashid	Do	48 days	Do
43	Shahnawaz	S/O Allah Warayo	18	DO
44	Mohammad Nawaz	Do	12	Do
45	Khalida	D/O Allah Warayo	7	Do
46	Ali Nawaz	S/O Allah Warayo	8	Do
47	Bakat	Do	5	Do
48	Atar	Do	4	Do
49	Abida	Do	2	Do
50	Ali Nawaz	Atta Mohammad		Abdullah
51	Hakeeman	W/O Ali Nawaz	50	Do
52	Parvez	S/O Ali nawaz	25	Do
53	Sanaullah	Do	23	Do
54	Gulsher	Do	14	Do
55	Dilsher	Do	10	Do
56	Rani	D/O Ali nawaz	5	Do
57	Anwar	S/O Ali nawaz	2	do

June 5th

Mano Bheel re-continued his token strike as Sindh High Court Hyderabad has accepted the bail of Abdul Rehman Marri, the main accused for kidnapping the nine family members of Mano Bheel a decade ago.

Dr. Haider, Qamar Sheikh and other workers of Green Rural Development Organization (GRDO) sit with Mano Bheel to show solidarity with him today (05-06-2008).

Mano Bheel worked at the land of accused landlord for years. Landlord kept the peasants in bondage. Mano Bheel, with his family, was rescued from the bondage in 1996 with help of Sanghar police after the application of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP). For two years he with his family worked at the farm of Waryam Memon near Jhudo district Mirpur khas. On 2^nd May, 2008 landlord Abdul Rehman Marri attacked the work place and kidnapped all eight family members and one of Mano Bheel’s guest. Fortunately, Mano Bheel was out of home and landlord could not kidnap him. For five years Mano Bheel approached many officials for recovery of his family but did not get any response.

Resultantly, in 2003 he started token hunger strike in front of Press Club Hyderabad. Mano Bheel continued his strike for 1287 days. GRDO held a long march of 172km right from the place from where the Mano Bheel’s family was kidnapped to Hyderabad Press Club. Several other national and international organizations showed solidarity with Mano Bheel. After that inactive Chief Justice of Supreme court took sou moto notice of the issue and ordered to arrest the kidnappers. Police arrested the main accused landlord Abdul Rehman Marri two years back.

Today Mano Bheel appealed the Sindh High Court to review the decision of giving bail to main accused of his case. He also requested CSOs and high ups of government, ruling party and others to support him for recovery of his nine family members.

6th June

Green Rural Development Organization (GRDO) and Hari Mazdoor Tanzeem (HMT) held a follow-up meeting on 6^th June, 2008 of all Hyderabad Batha Mazdoor (kiln workers) Convention. Comrade Jam Saqi, Dr.Haider, Qamar Shiekh, Parveen Soomro, Adam Malik (Action Aid), Kashif Bajeer (SPARC) Advocate Naseer Laghari, Haji Ghulam Muhammad Daper (SRTC) Veerjee (Mahar Garah) and President of (HMT) Shahida Khaskheli attended and addressed the meeting. More than 200 kiln workers attended the meeting. They said that 100% workers are indebted to kiln owners, thus they face inhuman behavior there. Workers said that their women face sexual harassment, there is no civic facility at kilns and they are facing many problems there.

Following demands were passed unanimously;

60 kiln workers kidnapped from the kiln of Koka Pathan be recovered and culprits be given harsh punishment
All kilns should be registered
Worker Unions be allowed and registered at all kilns
Bonded labor abolition Act be implemented and debt be announce unlawful
Government rates of labor be ensured at all kilns
False cases against workers be taken back
Old age benefit and other social security allowances be given to kiln workers
Schools be opened at kilns to educate the children of workers
Pure drinking water be provided at kilns
To protect the environment filters be fixed in chimneys of kilns

At the end of meeting a protest demo was organized on Miran Muhammad Road out side the press club Hyderabad for the recovery of 60 kiln workers who were debt bonded at the kiln of koka pathan near Tando hyder these workers were sold to an other kiln owner and trafficked to Punjab.

Meanwhile, at least 1000 kiln workers of Hyderabad and surroundings marched/protested for 15km from Tando hyder to Hyderabad Press Club. Children and women of these workers also participated in the march.

It should be noted that after mobilization of GRDO kiln workers have started demanding their wage rights and social security liable to kiln owners. In response kiln owners have shown their brutal face by bribing the local police. Recent example of this practice is the illegal arrest of kiln workers’ leader Jani oad. Mr. Jani oad was arrested by police last night. When kiln workers knew this they blocked all the roads near by connecting Hyderabad with other cities. After dialogue police released the kiln worker leader Mr. Jani at late night. It is pity that ASI of the area police station Ali Ahmed Bajeer, head constable Musa laghari and others are directly helping the kiln owners in this inhuman practice. Some police constable said that police officers are provided baked bricks free of cost by kiln owners this is why police help kiln owners!

Police has already illegally helped KOKA pathan, Fareed pathan, Hayat khaskheli and Godar punjabi who have kidnapped and sell 60 kiln workers to some brick kilns near Multan. Today 1000 kiln workers marched in Hyderabad to demand the immediate recovery of those kidnapped. They demanded that;

● Wage rights should be ensured by the government and must be monitored strictly.

● 60 kidnapped kiln workers must be recovered soon

● Those police officers who have helped the kiln owners illegally must be dismissed and

be brought to law of the land

● F.I.R must be registered against those kiln owners who are accused of paralyzing one

girl child’s leg.

Contact: Dr.Haider,Director, GRDO

+92-3013574927

Posted by collective at June 09, 2008 08:26 AM

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