‘Feudalism main cause of bonded labour in Pakistan’

THE NEWS

Renowned scholar and Professor Emeritus Jan Breman of Amsterdam University has said that feudalism is the main cause of

bonded labour in Pakistan where 10 per cent of the people are landlords and they dominate 90 per cent of the landless people in rural areas.

He made this statement on Sunday while releasing a report “Effectiveness of Interventions for the Release and Rehabilitation of Bonded Labourers in Pakistan” conducted by young researcher Zulfiqar Shah. The launching of the report was jointly organised by Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) and Karachi Press Club (KPC).

Prof Breman while commenting on the prevalent situation observed that the government was distancing itself from intervening in labour issues and leaving workers at the mercy of market forces which was a very dangerous trend. “If this situation continues, you will have people living in horrible conditions as the market is very cruel. Capitalism only thinks of profit, not human dignity,” he added. He maintained that widespread poverty is the result of labour exploitation and added that bonded labour is the result of both social and economic exploitation.

Others who spoke on the occasion included Nighat Saeed Khan of ASR Resource Centre Lahore, Karamat Ali of PILER, Imtiaz Faran and A H Khanzada of KPC and Zulfiqar Shah.
The research report strongly recommends massive land reforms in the country to end labour exploitation practices such as bonded labour. It says that despite a number of interventions on the part of judiciary, government, civil society and media, the problem of bondage is intact and estimated 1.8 million people are still in the bonded share cropping practices across Pakistan in agriculture alone. Other sectors involving bonded labour include brick kilns, carpet weaving, mining, glass-bangle manufacturing units, tanneries, domestic work and beggary.
The report discussed in detail the status of bonded labour in brick kiln, agriculture and carpet weaving sectors and also deliberated on the status of legislation in Pakistan and interventions by different sections of the society.
The research pointed out that international organisations consider bonded labour as a contemporary form of slavery that involves an estimated 20 million people all over the world.

Bonded labour is outlawed by the Constitution of Pakistan and the country has ratified many international conventions promising to bring this menace to an ultimate end, yet the practice persists. The issue of bonded labour cannot be seen in isolation. It is closely linked with the state of human rights and labour rights, especially of rural and agricultural workers, the research report says.
The definition of bondage or bonded labour in Pakistan, generally focuses on debt under which poor workers were coerced into a situation where they were compelled to work against their wishes not for some years but for generations and in many cases with restricted movements and limited or no freedom of choice.