Pakistan's ten year old Tayyaba - Labour without love

Andleeb Abbas

At an age where the child is full of energy and mischief, this child has been made mindless by the cruelty of the society and by the insensitivity of each one of us.

Child labour has savaged into child torture. The story of ten year old Tayyaba is shockingly shameful but alas not uncommon. What is uncommon is the media attention followed by Supreme Court suo moto despite the manipulated patch up between the child’s parents and the accused. Children working as housemaids is almost a norm. Children working in Brick kilns is almost a given. Children begging on streets is almost a job. Child labour is almost accepted with the justification of huge family sizes, appalling poverty, growing illiteracy and non-existing employment opportunities. We have accepted all these with a comfortably numb approach as part and parcel of a ground reality most underdeveloped countries go through.

According to The Global Slavery Index 2013, Pakistan comes third, after Mauritania and Haiti, in the prevalence of child labour while the International Labou rOrganisation (ILO) says that the overall number of child labourers has declined from 200 million in 2000 to 168 million in 2014. In a country where we are not bothered to conduct National Census, Statistics on Child Labour are as outdated as 1996 when the last National Child Labour survey was held. Thus we have to rely on international statistics. The ILO estimated in a 2012 survey that 12.5 million children in Pakistan are involved in child labour. Besides, 264,000 Pakistani children are involved in domestic child labour, according to the ILO’s report. There are 8.52 million home-based workers in the country, according to the official National Policy on Home-Based Workers.

Some, glances, looks, expressions, are unforgettable. Sharbat Gul’s sorrowful eyes after the earthquake are still etched in the mind. But Tayyaba’s look is heart wrenching. It is expressionless. It is as if the pain has reached a level where only deadening your feelings can make it bearable. It is as if a zombie is going through the motions. It is as if nothing registers and nothing matters. For a ten year old this state is incredible. At an age where the child is full of energy and mischief, this child has been made mindless by the cruelty of the society and by the insensitivity of each one of us. For after all it was a suo moto notice by the Chief Justice that has made us notice it more rather than treating it as business as usual.

The story of Tayyaba is more profound and telling than just another case of exploitation. It is not the case of an MNA or MPA throwing his arrogance at the helpless, rather one of the most educated and respected professionals in the society throwing off his mask of hypocrisy. This is the case of an Additional District and Session Judge (ADSJ) Raja Khurram Ali Khan and his wife facing the inquiry for his alleged involvement in keeping a juvenile housemaid in a wrongful confinement, burning her hand over a missing broom, beating her with a ladle, detaining her in a storeroom and threatening her with dire consequences. This is a case of police aiding and abetting the disappearance of the child to hide the heinous crime of the Me lord. This the case of the deceitful lawyer lying and forging documents to make the child’s parents sign a forgiveness bond. And this is the case of the greedy grabbers who became family members to take advantage of Tayyaba’s media value.

In most poor households with no education children are a matter of routine. The house maid industry is a sorry tale of dysfunctional families. The norm of these families is to make their women and children work while the men do not work, are on drugs, and either just abuse their wives or produce more children.

There are no specific laws on domestic workers below the age of 18 in Pakistan. To make matters more complicated, the laws addressing adult domestic workers are not specific enough to be effective. Domestic labour is mentioned in two legislations: one is The Provincial Employees Social Security Ordinance, 1965; Section 55-A of the ordinance stipulates that “Every employer of a domestic servant shall be liable to provide at his own cost to the domestic servant medical care to the extent mentioned in section 45”. The other is the Minimum Wages Ordinance, 1961 that includes ‘domestic work’ in its definition of ‘worker’ but the government has not yet notified the minimum wages applicable to domestic workers.

However, the law that allows the criminals to go scot-free is the law of forgiveness. This law is the plea bargain of violence. This law exploits ignorance and indifference. This law makes a mockery of the judicial system. This law makes the rule of law lawless. It is the government’s responsibility according to Article 25A of the constitution to provide basic education to all children. Thus if 2.5 million children are out of school who should be penalized for it. If a ten year old instead of being in playgrounds is being locked up in storerooms, those who do not provide opportunity are equally responsible and should be issued a suo moto too.

The Additional Judge has been made an OSD as a penalty. But is this enough? Being an Officer on Special Duty is not firing him from the job and he still gets paid. What is his punishment for harassing her, for assaulting her, for burning her? The Tayyaba case is a case of judge Vs judge where an Additional judge has brutally, cruelly and heartlessly indulged in violence against a minor. The judge who committed and the judge who allowed forgiveness on written statement without face to face investigation of the parents are complicit in this crime. For true justice to prevail these judges should be brought to trial and meted out a punishment that becomes an example for those who believe that to win a case do not solicit a lawyer, just solicit a judge.