Detained fishermen are languishing for nothing, says Abdullah Khoso
On October 11 2008, seven Indians arrived at Karachi’s Jinah Terminal Airport. The government of Gujrat, India, on behalf of Indian boat owners, had sent these men to recover confiscated boats – the poor Indian fishermen who used them now being in Pakistani jails. The purpose of the delegation was to survey the conditions of the confiscated boats for possible auction. Yet, they also brought with them letters from family members, for their loved ones now behind bars. “I will be looked on with suspicion if we are not successful in meeting with machawara (fishers),” Bharat Modi, a member of the delegate, confessed. “When I was leaving the village for the airport, to travel to Karachi, hundreds of fisherwomen gathered at my home, all wanting me to give messages to their relatives.”
According to Modi, 434 Indian fishermen now languish in Pakistani jails, almost all of them from the small village of Wanak Bara in District Diu of Gujrat, India. “There are mostly women left in the village,” Modi said. “All their men are in Pakistani jails.” And it’s not just the men. The boats they used – some 326 of them – were taken into the possession of Pakistani authorities. Of these, 186 boats have already been auctioned in Pakistani markets. On the other side of the border, a similar syndrome is in effect, though in lesser numbers. Official records list eight Pakistani fishermen in Indian jails, but the unofficial count is 55, said Veligi Masani, the leader of the Indian delegation. Eighty-seven Pakistani boats are also held by the Indian government.
Although the Indian Delegation was denied access to the detained fishermen – they did not have prior authorisation from the Sindh government -- these arrests are nothing new. Since 1987, both Pakistani and Indian authorities – the MSA in Pakistan, and the Coast Guard, Border Security Force, and the Indian Navy in India – have been arresting each other’s fishermen and confiscating their boats in the Arabian Sea. A total of 4,516 Indian fishers, with 729 boars, have been apprehended by Pakistan over the last 20 years, according to a 2008 study by the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF), a grassroots organisation that represents fishermen’s rights.
The rationale behind the arrests borders on ludicrous. The coast guards of the two rival nations officially consider the fishermen as spies or smugglers infringing on their sovereign waters. And so when fishermen unintentionally drift into “enemy” waters – due to engine failure or high tides, or because they are unable to find fish closer to home – they are picked up. But without any form of demarcation, it is difficult for fishermen to gauge exactly where the borders actually lie. What’s more, according to PFF, more often than not, fishermen are arrested even when they are within their country’s territorial boundaries. “Fishers usually do not cross borders, but security agencies violate international maritime laws and take fishers from the fishers’ own home waters,” said Gulab Shah, a fisher folk representative in Thatta District. “They bring more fishers for detention just to show their performance,” he added.
Fisher families maintain that illegal profit-making is also at work. On both sides of the border, agencies impound fishing equipment, fish and boats, often worth more than six or seven lakh, and then sell these in the market. In an ironic twist, the money gained from the sales is shared between Indian and Pakistan coast guard authorities.
In one of the more recent detentions, eight Pakistani fishers were captured in August 2008, and are now being held in Bhej Jail, Gujrat. Among those arrested was a 10-year-old boy. Days later, a 13-year-old boy, along with four other fishermen, were detained. On October 31, the Indian Coast Guard seized a Pakistani boat carrying seven crewmembers near Kajhar Creek, within Pakistani territorial limits.
On both sides of border, heart-wrenching stories abound. Many of those detained are the sole breadwinner in their family, yet it sometimes takes years for families to discover what happened to their husbands, brothers and sons. Janat, a resident of Rehri Goth, a coastal village of Karachi, did not know what happened to her husband, Achar, for four years, finally learning of his fate from a letter he sent from prison. Achar was arrested 15 years ago, and remains in an Indian prison today. The verdict, reached in 2006, was narcotics smuggling, Achar wrote in a letter to his wife. It took the Indian justice system 13 years to bring the case to court.
Achar’s mother, Mai Asi, 90, can only pray that she will be able to see Achar and his brother, who was also arrested 15 years ago, again. “One day Allah will send me back my children, she said with tears rolling down her wrinkled cheeks. “What can I do but pray for their safety and long life?” Mai Asi’s husband died of shock after he learnt of his two sons’ arrests, Janat, Achar’s wife, said.
On May 10 1999, Usman Sacho, Nawaz, Usman Ali and Zaman Khan, all of Karochan, Thatta District, went fishing and did not return. Five years later, in 2004, Usman Sacho’s family received a letter from Usman, telling them that the four men were alive and detained in Sabir Matti Jail in Ahmedabad, Gujrat under charges of smuggling. In his letter, Usman wrote, “We get very little to eat. Even our enemies should not have to stay in such a jail.”
A PFF representative, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that jail conditions were poor and justice slow or nonexistent for fishers. With no one to pursue or support their cases, the fisher folk are a low priority. And, the representative said, “if anyone tries to approach or help them, he is looked on suspiciously and considered a spy.”
Another representative of PFF admitted that working for the detained fishermen was an onerous task. “Disclosing news about Indian fishers arrested by Pakistani agencies is not a big deal,” he said. “The problem arises when the media publishes news of Pakistani fishers arrested by Indian agencies quoting PFF as a source.” The office’s phones start ringing non-stop with intelligence officers interrogating them over the phone, he said, adding that PFF was threatened to reveal their sources. “Our answer remains the same, we learnt it through the internet and their [the captured men’s] fellow fishers.”
According to PFF, Indian and Pakistani forces have killed18 Pakistani and four Indian fishermen, respectively, over the last 18 years. Yet, there are simple solutions that could put an end to this tragic and unnecessary waste of life. That disenfranchised fishermen should be killed or held for years in prison without charge is a humanitarian atrocity, and more must be done to protect the civil rights of fishing communities, both in India and in Pakistan.
At the very least, a mechanism through which information can be passed in a timely manner to effected families must be put in place. Better, the families should be provided with economic relief. Each country must also improve their management of fisheries within their Economic Exclusive Zone to reduce pressure on fishermen to cross the border in search of a better catch. A bilateral solution must be reached. Abdullah Khoso lives in Karachi
This article published in The Friday Times. Fri, 12/05/2008.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Sunday, February 10, 2008
This research is written for the general public, however, the motive behind this research is to make aware the students of the media and human rights activists about the freedom of the Pakistani Press. The Press in Pakistan avoids indulging itself in a risk situation by representing the minority and also reporting injustice against minority religious groups as a common attitude of society.
Communicating risk: majority and minority in the media text
On October 2005, in Pakistan, during morning prayers, two motorcyclists had attacked on Ahmadis’ place of worship, killed eight and inured fourteen people. this and the attacks before this on the Ahmadis place of worship are examined through the lenses of social and legal discourse frameworks of Pakistani society which place the Ahmadis in a risky position, and they are believed to be threat to Pakistani social and religious values. The Ahmadis are a religious minority in Pakistan and follower of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad who declared himself, the Imam and the prophet. In this respect, in 1974 the government of Pakistan declared them non-Muslims and heretical by amending the constitution of the country. In 1984, the Tuheen-e-Risalat (blasphemy) law was introduced for the Ahmadis. These laws are an outcome of the influence of the majority ruling Sunni-Muslim groups.
This October incident has been reported in local, national and international newspapers. The language of these reports is different from each other due to different geographic and socio-cultural set ups.
The two newspapers, the Dawn and the Nawa-i-Waqt, published from Pakistan have reported the incident in the social, cultural and the legal limitations: crossing these limitations is risk to these media outlets. The Pakistani media works as a bardic of the majority, the majority that controls power of the state. It represents majority as ‘us’ and minority as ‘the others’. The constitution of the country and other blasphemy laws work as taboo for the each individual at anywhere whether he or she works in the media or somewhere else. The day-to-day execution of Ahmadis is open threat to all who takes chance to represent Ahmadis as Muslims. the media if is out of the premises of Pakistan, for example, the BBC, it represents differently, whether it is the majority or minority, these both groups are portrayed as ‘the others’ because the BBC is not bound to any Pakistani legal and socio-cultural restrictions.
When the BBC represents two binary religious groups, the minority Ahmadis and majority Sunni, in Pakistan, its language of representation is mild for the victims and hard for the attackers and their religion. Sunni Muslims are represented as the terrorists and so their religion and Ahmadis are placed in a victimized position. It shows that Ahmadis are a peaceful community and have not crossed the boundaries of society demarcated by the majority ruling Sunni group. In the BBC, Ahmadis are Muslims and their place of worship is a mosque. According to the Laws in Pakistan, it is blasphemy if a Ahmadi call him/herself a Muslim and term his/her place of worship a mosque. Not only this but there are so many other taboos practiced against Ahmadis which bare Ahmadis be looking like Muslims. This is why the Dawn and Nawai-i-Waqt newspaper published from Pakistan have avoided using the language, which could show that Ahmadis are Muslims and their place of worship is a mosque. These newspapers see the Ahmadis in a similar way as the majority Sunni Muslim group.
By these activities and incidents, the media persons and human rights activists all over the world may suppose that the media in Pakistan has not come out of the clutches of the existing radical thoughts, which are believed to be anti-human, liberal and progressive thoughts. On the one hand, these activities show that the constitution of the country is made up of contrary regulations; it offers freedom to all to practice their religions and on the other, it does not allow few to practicing their religions.
In addition, this is a matter of great concern because the media seems as a part of the radical thoughts, and if not, but it is at least confined to the rules and regulations which stop the media to debate the issue and lead the society towards reforms. Reforming the country would not be easier until all the stakeholders of the society take initiative to remove the problems, which are hurdle in the progress of the country.
The Pakistani media communicates the incident according to the dominant discourse constructed by the majority. They might speak from a position of assumed consensus on other issues but in this particular case reflection of the cracks and inconsistencies may be risky for the media as it is for the Ahmadis.
according to Schroeder and Philips, communicate the message of the real originator (the audience) of the culture in which these are both located: “both functions under a cultural logic that obliges them to speak from a position of assumed consensus, but also to reflect the cracks and inconsistencies that may appear in that consensus” (p. 40).
Schroeder and Philips write that the appeal of bardic theory in defining “the relationship between the media and audience lies in its accentuation of the mutuality between media and citizens in the collective construction of the culture's discursive universe, and its exclusion of simple power and causal relationships” (p. 40). Mythen (2004: 77) also claims that the "[m]anufactured risks...are described as a 'pure media events' which serve to orchestrate public dialogue". He assumes that the media are a discursive place "in which political contestation about risk take places". Here Mythen supports Becks and Douglas' idea that risk has invariably been taken as a political issue.
Briefly, the concept of risk associated with the Ahmadi phenomenon has not been directly represented. It is not shown that the Ahmadis are a danger to the integration of the state. However, these are. In representing risks from the Ahmadis cultural and religious aspects are dominant over the Pakistani media’s own choice in representing ‘the others’. The Ahmadis are clearly represented as ‘the others’. In this case, the Pakistani media perform as bards of the Sunni Muslim culture in that they are powerless in addressing the issue in the way that outsiders (the BBC) can perform boldly. The BBC has represented the Ahmadis and radical Muslims in its own position, and is independent of any influence of power that works in Pakistan. In addition, the BBC cannot be the bard of Pakistani culture, because few people read the BBC news at its website and listen its programme in English in Pakistan. It is not a part of the culture; it cannot perform the role that the Pakistani media in Pakistan perform.
The intrinsic importance of the incident lies in the system where fixed terminologies are used to set apart one entity (us) from another (others). The news is formatted through specific sets of social and legal rules. In an anthropological sense, the response to risk is not atomized and individual but rather collective and cultural. The news reports in the Dawn and NW are a reflection of a social and ideological practice, or in other words a discourse that represents social facts within the frameworks of society. The formation of the language, according to given conditions and frameworks, supports the idea that the news reporting is greatly under the influence of current social and ideological processes. The neutrality of the language use is at stake. Also controlling those processes which are shown in these particular cases is not viable, because the dominant social behaviour rules over the process of news formation.
Thus, from an anthropological perspective, the formation of the perception of risk posed by ‘the others’ is collective rather individual. It is neither an issue of a few groups nor the problem of representing Ahmadis as ‘the others’ in the media, rather it is an issue of the common discourse of hatred against 'the others' (Ahmadis) which is being injected into the veins of the society. In order to eradicate such perceptions, people in Pakistan need rigorous efforts. There is also a responsibility of the state to allow the media to start a debate on the freedom of belief and practices.
The generalization of assumptions is very crucial point for this study, inasmuch as the size of sample is too small to see its implications with the media practices as whole, but it has a wider context, and in its contextual analysis some other news stories and facts are being presented to justify the generalization of certain risk assumptions.
Communicating risk: majority and minority in the media text
On October 2005, in Pakistan, during morning prayers, two motorcyclists had attacked on Ahmadis’ place of worship, killed eight and inured fourteen people. this and the attacks before this on the Ahmadis place of worship are examined through the lenses of social and legal discourse frameworks of Pakistani society which place the Ahmadis in a risky position, and they are believed to be threat to Pakistani social and religious values. The Ahmadis are a religious minority in Pakistan and follower of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad who declared himself, the Imam and the prophet. In this respect, in 1974 the government of Pakistan declared them non-Muslims and heretical by amending the constitution of the country. In 1984, the Tuheen-e-Risalat (blasphemy) law was introduced for the Ahmadis. These laws are an outcome of the influence of the majority ruling Sunni-Muslim groups.
This October incident has been reported in local, national and international newspapers. The language of these reports is different from each other due to different geographic and socio-cultural set ups.
The two newspapers, the Dawn and the Nawa-i-Waqt, published from Pakistan have reported the incident in the social, cultural and the legal limitations: crossing these limitations is risk to these media outlets. The Pakistani media works as a bardic of the majority, the majority that controls power of the state. It represents majority as ‘us’ and minority as ‘the others’. The constitution of the country and other blasphemy laws work as taboo for the each individual at anywhere whether he or she works in the media or somewhere else. The day-to-day execution of Ahmadis is open threat to all who takes chance to represent Ahmadis as Muslims. the media if is out of the premises of Pakistan, for example, the BBC, it represents differently, whether it is the majority or minority, these both groups are portrayed as ‘the others’ because the BBC is not bound to any Pakistani legal and socio-cultural restrictions.
When the BBC represents two binary religious groups, the minority Ahmadis and majority Sunni, in Pakistan, its language of representation is mild for the victims and hard for the attackers and their religion. Sunni Muslims are represented as the terrorists and so their religion and Ahmadis are placed in a victimized position. It shows that Ahmadis are a peaceful community and have not crossed the boundaries of society demarcated by the majority ruling Sunni group. In the BBC, Ahmadis are Muslims and their place of worship is a mosque. According to the Laws in Pakistan, it is blasphemy if a Ahmadi call him/herself a Muslim and term his/her place of worship a mosque. Not only this but there are so many other taboos practiced against Ahmadis which bare Ahmadis be looking like Muslims. This is why the Dawn and Nawai-i-Waqt newspaper published from Pakistan have avoided using the language, which could show that Ahmadis are Muslims and their place of worship is a mosque. These newspapers see the Ahmadis in a similar way as the majority Sunni Muslim group.
By these activities and incidents, the media persons and human rights activists all over the world may suppose that the media in Pakistan has not come out of the clutches of the existing radical thoughts, which are believed to be anti-human, liberal and progressive thoughts. On the one hand, these activities show that the constitution of the country is made up of contrary regulations; it offers freedom to all to practice their religions and on the other, it does not allow few to practicing their religions.
In addition, this is a matter of great concern because the media seems as a part of the radical thoughts, and if not, but it is at least confined to the rules and regulations which stop the media to debate the issue and lead the society towards reforms. Reforming the country would not be easier until all the stakeholders of the society take initiative to remove the problems, which are hurdle in the progress of the country.
The Pakistani media communicates the incident according to the dominant discourse constructed by the majority. They might speak from a position of assumed consensus on other issues but in this particular case reflection of the cracks and inconsistencies may be risky for the media as it is for the Ahmadis.
according to Schroeder and Philips, communicate the message of the real originator (the audience) of the culture in which these are both located: “both functions under a cultural logic that obliges them to speak from a position of assumed consensus, but also to reflect the cracks and inconsistencies that may appear in that consensus” (p. 40).
Schroeder and Philips write that the appeal of bardic theory in defining “the relationship between the media and audience lies in its accentuation of the mutuality between media and citizens in the collective construction of the culture's discursive universe, and its exclusion of simple power and causal relationships” (p. 40). Mythen (2004: 77) also claims that the "[m]anufactured risks...are described as a 'pure media events' which serve to orchestrate public dialogue". He assumes that the media are a discursive place "in which political contestation about risk take places". Here Mythen supports Becks and Douglas' idea that risk has invariably been taken as a political issue.
Briefly, the concept of risk associated with the Ahmadi phenomenon has not been directly represented. It is not shown that the Ahmadis are a danger to the integration of the state. However, these are. In representing risks from the Ahmadis cultural and religious aspects are dominant over the Pakistani media’s own choice in representing ‘the others’. The Ahmadis are clearly represented as ‘the others’. In this case, the Pakistani media perform as bards of the Sunni Muslim culture in that they are powerless in addressing the issue in the way that outsiders (the BBC) can perform boldly. The BBC has represented the Ahmadis and radical Muslims in its own position, and is independent of any influence of power that works in Pakistan. In addition, the BBC cannot be the bard of Pakistani culture, because few people read the BBC news at its website and listen its programme in English in Pakistan. It is not a part of the culture; it cannot perform the role that the Pakistani media in Pakistan perform.
The intrinsic importance of the incident lies in the system where fixed terminologies are used to set apart one entity (us) from another (others). The news is formatted through specific sets of social and legal rules. In an anthropological sense, the response to risk is not atomized and individual but rather collective and cultural. The news reports in the Dawn and NW are a reflection of a social and ideological practice, or in other words a discourse that represents social facts within the frameworks of society. The formation of the language, according to given conditions and frameworks, supports the idea that the news reporting is greatly under the influence of current social and ideological processes. The neutrality of the language use is at stake. Also controlling those processes which are shown in these particular cases is not viable, because the dominant social behaviour rules over the process of news formation.
Thus, from an anthropological perspective, the formation of the perception of risk posed by ‘the others’ is collective rather individual. It is neither an issue of a few groups nor the problem of representing Ahmadis as ‘the others’ in the media, rather it is an issue of the common discourse of hatred against 'the others' (Ahmadis) which is being injected into the veins of the society. In order to eradicate such perceptions, people in Pakistan need rigorous efforts. There is also a responsibility of the state to allow the media to start a debate on the freedom of belief and practices.
The generalization of assumptions is very crucial point for this study, inasmuch as the size of sample is too small to see its implications with the media practices as whole, but it has a wider context, and in its contextual analysis some other news stories and facts are being presented to justify the generalization of certain risk assumptions.
Saturday, November 5, 2005
Global Alliance against Forced Labour
By: Abdullah Khoso
On 11 May 2005, the International Labor Organization’s has released its report “a Global Alliance against Forced Labour”. The report provides a wide range of estimates of human rights violations in terms of forced labor under the human trafficking (a new ugly face in modern world) and other traditional forms of brutal crimes thought out the world. Where it estimates to highlight severity of ‘a social evil’ and brings in uncountable issues onto its papers there it lacks some of the very important things related to Pakistan and Sindh. Here it is dared to put forward some points on the basis of first hand experience comprised of more than one and half year interaction with bonded labourers in Sindh and relevant literature. Besides, some suggestions are pen downed, and as student of political economy of bondage put forwarded few questions.
The very odd thing to astonish the reader of the report is that report’s estimates are based on ‘unreliable’ secondary data. It writes “in the absence of reliable and widely accepted national estimates, the ILO methodology relies on a particular statistical method described as double sampling.” Since there is no reliable estimates then how a human made methodology can give at least minimum ensured figure to its reader.
In order to confirm and compare reliability of data, we should look at the illuminations of figures in local reports. Global report writes that according to Human Rights Commission of Pakistan’s Special Task Force of Sindh (STFS) province, just under 19,000 bonded hari sharecroppers were released from the period between January 2000 and June 2004. While from the HRCP’s Annual Reports from 1988 to March 2003 it is known that about 8,500 Haris have been liberated from the system of bondage, through different sources.
Moreover, there are several cases of Haris’s release in 2003, while ILO writes “ legal released peaked in 2000 and 2001, but appear to have dramatically declined since with no Haris released through the Sindh High Court in 2003”. Whereas HRCPs annual report of 2003 ‘State of Human Rights 2003’ has reported, “according to data complied by the HRCP’s STFS the courts had released 1,322 Haris over the year.” Besides, STFS’s report mentions a case of release of Haris. The case was filed by Chunnu, a victim of bondage. It is reported like this “the SHC had order the release of these Haris.”
Another source to judge the reliability of data is that ILO has put other’s work into credit of National Rural Support Program (NRSP). Whereas, it is the Green Rural Development Organization (GRDO) that has helped 1050 from all camps in getting National Identity Cards (NICs). It is indeed a very difficult task like other task of rehabilitation after emancipation.
Where several other interventions are mentioned there the issue of advance (taqavi) in the report is not highlighted. The advance is prohibited under the Bonded Labour Abolition Act, 1992 but allowed in Sindh Tenancy Act, 1950, while Haris themselves are against to the prohibition of advance. It is, indeed, considered a sole thing in the absence of all basic protective mechanism and life facilities in their lives. Whereas it does not seem valued issue at ILO except the compliance of recently made laws against forced labour. In other words, it does not propose or facilitate to resolve conflict or contradiction between local laws and states policies, and between the policies of state and aspiration of Haris and labourers.
With given problem of advance, the problem of labour and hari is pivotal in the case but not stated in the report and even no strategy or imperative is given into the report. Hari is not considered labour hence Bonded Labour (Abolition) Act, 1992, is not applicable and courts do not entertain cases of haris under the Act. Therefore, there must be emphasis by ILO for sector specific forced labour Acts, because each sector has its own nature of work, market and mechanism. Similarly, besides Sindh Tenancy Act 1950 there must be another law/act which directly should address the issue of forced labour, while there are no directions in Tenancy Act to address forced labour in agriculture sector. Or efforts should be taken to amend Tenancy Act according to ILO’s core principles. For this role of ILO is missing.
Again with regard to interventions, ILO report has missed to mention an uncertain situation created in the dealing of bonded labour cases due to the transfer of habeas corpus law at district level. In December 2002, in the article 199 of the constitution amendment was made by Government of Pakistan to authorize the Session Courts to also look into the cases of detention and illegal confinement under the criminal procedure court (CRPC)-491. After amendment, Haris and also many Lawyers are afraid to writ petition at High Courts because their petitions are not entertained. And Session Courts’ judges are not given as much importance and they are also in the reach of influential landlords. For a landlord, it is very difficult to influence judges of high court immediately.
With regard to the programs to abolish forced labour from the countries. Report mention like this “the poverty reduction strategy papers (PRSP) highlights bonded labor as priority issue”. Interestingly, neither Pakistan PRSPs mention bonded labour into its list of contents nor it talked in detail on subsequent pages. PRSP just gives the aims of Government of Pakistan about the future activities on bonded labour issue. What Government has done so far is not part of that text and it seems that it is just written to fulfill formality. Also there is no account of a very serious issue of trafficking in human, a new form of forced labour, in PRSPs. For ILO, it is very horrible crime, and taking place also in Pakistan in the shape of camel jockey.
In the release of Haris from detention report does not give account about some of the very positive happenings through NGOs, lawyers, activist, also through the involvement of hari groups. These need appreciation for their work, and ILO in its report can extend such hand of appreciation.
Looking at the ground realities, we will find that ILO does not mention in its report about the failure of its supported project active from April 2002 in seven camps near Hyderabad in Sindh province. By providing an easy access to micro credit, National Rural Support Program (NRSP) under the ILO supported project claims that it has enabled people to develop self-employment opportunities and saved them to be again indebted of landlords. However, firsthand experience corroborates something else.
NRSP emphasizes only on hundred percent recovery of loan at camps. By this they prove that they have attained goal of prevention of family indebtedness at camps through delivery of credit service and hundred percent recovery. For instance, they showed that a woman (Mehni Kolhi) at Hosri camp due to the credit facility by NRSP and her family has been saved to be indebted of landlord again because she has been empowered socially and economically and was fine each month in giving back installments. NRSP made her case study and presented it at United Nations Global Micro-Entrepreneurship Awards program 2005. In result, that woman was given reward in cash.
Interestingly, Mehni describes differently. According to her, she had got credit for goat but from total given amount major part she had spent on her family daily needs; she also bought a goat worth of few hundreds and also had opened a shop at camp. She was suppose to pay back loan on monthly installments but after two three months she could not manage to give back; she also sold her goat and closed shop. In order to pay back credit, she went Shahdadpur for picking cotton at landlord. And she after many months working at landlord collected money and returned to NRSP. Mehni said “we still after liberation are living like slave (assen aj be zamendaran ji gand ghulami kariyon tha).” Shockingly, this is the ILO supported project that aimed ‘to prevent freed haris (farmers) and other vulnerable families falling back into bondage by reducing their economic and social vulnerability principally through provision of microfinance services.’
A last point for this article (there are still several other missing points in the report) is that while reading definition of Forced Labour a very confusing issue encountered. It is, when ILO says in its article 1 of abolition of forced labour convention 1957 that forced labour cannot be used for the purpose of “economic development or as a means of political education, discrimination, labour discipline, or punishment for having participated in strikes,” it means there is possibility to exact forced labour for some of the purposes excluding these. Forced labour is forced labour that should be prohibited in all uses; therefore, it must not be categorized in some of these purposes.
Now on the basis understanding some suggestions are put forward to ILO. In order to solve forced labour issues in Sindh, ILO should help to create a movement at gross root level, need not to bring Haris away from lands where they are bonded but, besides education programs of bureaucrats, should help bonded Haris by involving labour and Hari councilors and other supportive mechanism; sensitization of such councilors is very necessary. On priority basis labour councilors in forced-labour prone-districts should be trained about the issue and its legal aspects.
As there is no word about the role of some other organizations and individuals in release and rehabilitation process, therefore, other organizations should do on priority basis be morally supported, and these reports when mention their names it is considered regard for them and they work on the issue by heart.
Also ILO reps must have continuous contacts with victims. They also should speak to them and tell them things in their own language, not in alien one. As couple of weeks back ILO’s adviser to the ministry of labour, in a workshop convened by SPARC (Society for the Protection of Children Rights) discussed main findings of ILO’s report on ‘Global Alliance Force Labour’ mainly into English while the participants’ majority belongs to camps, they did not know English. Also a very bureaucratic attitude of ILO rep came into notice through the participants.
In order to resolve issue of reliability of data (the data which happens to be the foundation of ILO instruments) ILO in future, therefore, should have its own independent body in each state or country (especially in Pakistan) to carry surveys and long duration qualitative research programs rather then relying on the exaggerated rapid assessments done through armchair consultants and rely on the news reports of some specific NGOs and on unreliable national estimates. Such surveys and qualitative research should be carried out after each five year span with the involvement of highly trained students in research. Also ILO may ask government to put some relevant questions in its large scale surveys done after years.
To date we have seen lot of remarkable happenings in our country in favor of Haris and labourers through ILO’s written text (instruments) but in order to relegate forced labour ‘social evil,’ to history, there is also dire need of commitment and attention by ILO rather written formalities. Indeed, with the help of ILO’s committed programs, political will and global commitment for just and fair society for all is not big deal. End
On 11 May 2005, the International Labor Organization’s has released its report “a Global Alliance against Forced Labour”. The report provides a wide range of estimates of human rights violations in terms of forced labor under the human trafficking (a new ugly face in modern world) and other traditional forms of brutal crimes thought out the world. Where it estimates to highlight severity of ‘a social evil’ and brings in uncountable issues onto its papers there it lacks some of the very important things related to Pakistan and Sindh. Here it is dared to put forward some points on the basis of first hand experience comprised of more than one and half year interaction with bonded labourers in Sindh and relevant literature. Besides, some suggestions are pen downed, and as student of political economy of bondage put forwarded few questions.
The very odd thing to astonish the reader of the report is that report’s estimates are based on ‘unreliable’ secondary data. It writes “in the absence of reliable and widely accepted national estimates, the ILO methodology relies on a particular statistical method described as double sampling.” Since there is no reliable estimates then how a human made methodology can give at least minimum ensured figure to its reader.
In order to confirm and compare reliability of data, we should look at the illuminations of figures in local reports. Global report writes that according to Human Rights Commission of Pakistan’s Special Task Force of Sindh (STFS) province, just under 19,000 bonded hari sharecroppers were released from the period between January 2000 and June 2004. While from the HRCP’s Annual Reports from 1988 to March 2003 it is known that about 8,500 Haris have been liberated from the system of bondage, through different sources.
Moreover, there are several cases of Haris’s release in 2003, while ILO writes “ legal released peaked in 2000 and 2001, but appear to have dramatically declined since with no Haris released through the Sindh High Court in 2003”. Whereas HRCPs annual report of 2003 ‘State of Human Rights 2003’ has reported, “according to data complied by the HRCP’s STFS the courts had released 1,322 Haris over the year.” Besides, STFS’s report mentions a case of release of Haris. The case was filed by Chunnu, a victim of bondage. It is reported like this “the SHC had order the release of these Haris.”
Another source to judge the reliability of data is that ILO has put other’s work into credit of National Rural Support Program (NRSP). Whereas, it is the Green Rural Development Organization (GRDO) that has helped 1050 from all camps in getting National Identity Cards (NICs). It is indeed a very difficult task like other task of rehabilitation after emancipation.
Where several other interventions are mentioned there the issue of advance (taqavi) in the report is not highlighted. The advance is prohibited under the Bonded Labour Abolition Act, 1992 but allowed in Sindh Tenancy Act, 1950, while Haris themselves are against to the prohibition of advance. It is, indeed, considered a sole thing in the absence of all basic protective mechanism and life facilities in their lives. Whereas it does not seem valued issue at ILO except the compliance of recently made laws against forced labour. In other words, it does not propose or facilitate to resolve conflict or contradiction between local laws and states policies, and between the policies of state and aspiration of Haris and labourers.
With given problem of advance, the problem of labour and hari is pivotal in the case but not stated in the report and even no strategy or imperative is given into the report. Hari is not considered labour hence Bonded Labour (Abolition) Act, 1992, is not applicable and courts do not entertain cases of haris under the Act. Therefore, there must be emphasis by ILO for sector specific forced labour Acts, because each sector has its own nature of work, market and mechanism. Similarly, besides Sindh Tenancy Act 1950 there must be another law/act which directly should address the issue of forced labour, while there are no directions in Tenancy Act to address forced labour in agriculture sector. Or efforts should be taken to amend Tenancy Act according to ILO’s core principles. For this role of ILO is missing.
Again with regard to interventions, ILO report has missed to mention an uncertain situation created in the dealing of bonded labour cases due to the transfer of habeas corpus law at district level. In December 2002, in the article 199 of the constitution amendment was made by Government of Pakistan to authorize the Session Courts to also look into the cases of detention and illegal confinement under the criminal procedure court (CRPC)-491. After amendment, Haris and also many Lawyers are afraid to writ petition at High Courts because their petitions are not entertained. And Session Courts’ judges are not given as much importance and they are also in the reach of influential landlords. For a landlord, it is very difficult to influence judges of high court immediately.
With regard to the programs to abolish forced labour from the countries. Report mention like this “the poverty reduction strategy papers (PRSP) highlights bonded labor as priority issue”. Interestingly, neither Pakistan PRSPs mention bonded labour into its list of contents nor it talked in detail on subsequent pages. PRSP just gives the aims of Government of Pakistan about the future activities on bonded labour issue. What Government has done so far is not part of that text and it seems that it is just written to fulfill formality. Also there is no account of a very serious issue of trafficking in human, a new form of forced labour, in PRSPs. For ILO, it is very horrible crime, and taking place also in Pakistan in the shape of camel jockey.
In the release of Haris from detention report does not give account about some of the very positive happenings through NGOs, lawyers, activist, also through the involvement of hari groups. These need appreciation for their work, and ILO in its report can extend such hand of appreciation.
Looking at the ground realities, we will find that ILO does not mention in its report about the failure of its supported project active from April 2002 in seven camps near Hyderabad in Sindh province. By providing an easy access to micro credit, National Rural Support Program (NRSP) under the ILO supported project claims that it has enabled people to develop self-employment opportunities and saved them to be again indebted of landlords. However, firsthand experience corroborates something else.
NRSP emphasizes only on hundred percent recovery of loan at camps. By this they prove that they have attained goal of prevention of family indebtedness at camps through delivery of credit service and hundred percent recovery. For instance, they showed that a woman (Mehni Kolhi) at Hosri camp due to the credit facility by NRSP and her family has been saved to be indebted of landlord again because she has been empowered socially and economically and was fine each month in giving back installments. NRSP made her case study and presented it at United Nations Global Micro-Entrepreneurship Awards program 2005. In result, that woman was given reward in cash.
Interestingly, Mehni describes differently. According to her, she had got credit for goat but from total given amount major part she had spent on her family daily needs; she also bought a goat worth of few hundreds and also had opened a shop at camp. She was suppose to pay back loan on monthly installments but after two three months she could not manage to give back; she also sold her goat and closed shop. In order to pay back credit, she went Shahdadpur for picking cotton at landlord. And she after many months working at landlord collected money and returned to NRSP. Mehni said “we still after liberation are living like slave (assen aj be zamendaran ji gand ghulami kariyon tha).” Shockingly, this is the ILO supported project that aimed ‘to prevent freed haris (farmers) and other vulnerable families falling back into bondage by reducing their economic and social vulnerability principally through provision of microfinance services.’
A last point for this article (there are still several other missing points in the report) is that while reading definition of Forced Labour a very confusing issue encountered. It is, when ILO says in its article 1 of abolition of forced labour convention 1957 that forced labour cannot be used for the purpose of “economic development or as a means of political education, discrimination, labour discipline, or punishment for having participated in strikes,” it means there is possibility to exact forced labour for some of the purposes excluding these. Forced labour is forced labour that should be prohibited in all uses; therefore, it must not be categorized in some of these purposes.
Now on the basis understanding some suggestions are put forward to ILO. In order to solve forced labour issues in Sindh, ILO should help to create a movement at gross root level, need not to bring Haris away from lands where they are bonded but, besides education programs of bureaucrats, should help bonded Haris by involving labour and Hari councilors and other supportive mechanism; sensitization of such councilors is very necessary. On priority basis labour councilors in forced-labour prone-districts should be trained about the issue and its legal aspects.
As there is no word about the role of some other organizations and individuals in release and rehabilitation process, therefore, other organizations should do on priority basis be morally supported, and these reports when mention their names it is considered regard for them and they work on the issue by heart.
Also ILO reps must have continuous contacts with victims. They also should speak to them and tell them things in their own language, not in alien one. As couple of weeks back ILO’s adviser to the ministry of labour, in a workshop convened by SPARC (Society for the Protection of Children Rights) discussed main findings of ILO’s report on ‘Global Alliance Force Labour’ mainly into English while the participants’ majority belongs to camps, they did not know English. Also a very bureaucratic attitude of ILO rep came into notice through the participants.
In order to resolve issue of reliability of data (the data which happens to be the foundation of ILO instruments) ILO in future, therefore, should have its own independent body in each state or country (especially in Pakistan) to carry surveys and long duration qualitative research programs rather then relying on the exaggerated rapid assessments done through armchair consultants and rely on the news reports of some specific NGOs and on unreliable national estimates. Such surveys and qualitative research should be carried out after each five year span with the involvement of highly trained students in research. Also ILO may ask government to put some relevant questions in its large scale surveys done after years.
To date we have seen lot of remarkable happenings in our country in favor of Haris and labourers through ILO’s written text (instruments) but in order to relegate forced labour ‘social evil,’ to history, there is also dire need of commitment and attention by ILO rather written formalities. Indeed, with the help of ILO’s committed programs, political will and global commitment for just and fair society for all is not big deal. End
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