A local human rights organisation, Legal Aid and Human Rights Society has helped in releasing more than 35 bonded labourers, including 30 Afghan refugees from the illegal detention of two brick kilns in Islamabad and District Attock on Friday.
Talking to Business Recorder Society President Advocate Mohammad Ajmal Khattak said that action was taken against Raees Khan Bhatta Khisht located in Pindi Gheb (District Attock) on an application received by a labourer, Abdul Mateen, head of an Afghan family.
The action was taken on the orders of District and Sessions Judge Attock Hakeem Syed Akhtar Irshad under Bonded Labour System Abolition Act.
Later, the Sessions Judge Attock released all the 30 Afghan bonded labourers and directed the concerned police station to take stern legal action against those involved in this crime.
Ajmal Khattak said that bonded labourers who were recovered from illegal detention included 10 children and seven women. Legal Aid Society raided the brick kiln along with the Pindi Gheb police and court bailiff. Police also booked owner Raees Khan and presented him before the court.
The Afghan family was sold to Raees brick kiln by some unidentified persons for Rs 100,000 two years back.
The family was working on daily wages, he said, adding that when they demanded their release, the owner threatened to kill them.
They were confined in small dark room of a house which was cordoned by armed men, he said.
A habeas corpus case has been registered against the owner and manager of Raees Bhatta Khisht here on Friday. Meanwhile, the human rights body also recovered five people from the illegal captivity of Safdar brick kiln located in Sihal area.
Amir Saleem Rana, Judicial Magistrate Islamabad, ordered strict action against the owner and freed the bonded labourers.
Over 50,000 people were working as bonded labour in more than 200 brick kilns of the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi and these ill-fated people were being sold by the owners of the kilns to others from generations.
Ajmal Khattak told Business Recorder that during the last three years Legal Aid and Human Rights Society had recovered 600 bonded labourers from the captivity of the kiln owners and provided them free legal assistance.
There were more than 200 brick kilns in Rawalpindi-Islamabad, and more than 500 people were working at each kiln, he said, adding that about 50 percent of these labourers were in the category of bonded labour.
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