Syeda Ghulam Fatima, a Pakistani human rights activist was honored on Sunday with a Global Citizen award in New York for her dedication to civil rights and labor laws in Pakistan. (Source: Dawn, 29/9/2015)
Comment:
Reading the captions under images of Fatima on the photo blogger, Brandon Stanton of Humans of New York (HONY) when he visited Pakistan tells of the real struggle of a dedicated activist who is working towards the abolition of bonded labor in the country.
Despite the awareness and money raised ($1.2 million) from the feature in HONY for the work Fatima is doing, the ground reality of bonded labor and abuse of workers in different forms is still very common in Pakistan. HONY states, “Over 20,000 brick kilns operate in Pakistan, supported by millions of workers, and the system is largely underpinned by an extremely close cousin of slavery—bonded labor.”
It all begins when illiterate and desperate laborers are tricked into accepting small loans in exchange for agreeing to work at brick kilns for a small period of time. However the laborers (estimated to be well over one million men, women, and children) become trapped in a modern feudalist system, unable to pay the initial loan and then finding out that they are in more added debt due to the provision of food and housing by the kiln owners!
Apart from the work of NGO’s to assist and raise awareness of the injustices faced by the labor class, in 1992, the Bonded Labor System (Abolition) Act was passed to prevent the economic and physical exploitation of the labor class in the country. Despite laws and work of activists according to the 2014 Global Slavery Index, 2,058,200 people are enslaved in Pakistan.
Awards are given and photographs taken, patriots beam with delight, yet still more than 2,000,000 are suffering due to greed, exploitation and a legal system that supports the rich and powerful. Fatima herself has been shot on the way to a court hearing against a kiln owner and medical treatment for her was withheld at the instruction of local politicians. Where do the vulnerable turn to?
HONY states that “if Fatima succeeds in her goal of providing education, legal assistance, and rehabilitation to every bonded laborer in Pakistan, the system will naturally collapse.” The system will only collapse if it is replaced by a better and more just one-as people with access to education and legal assistance are not saved from exploitation in other parts of the country. The current capitalist system is the actual fuel for the problem and it is the reason why people feel so desperate and turn to the feudal land owners for financial help. And for the feudal landowner the laborers life is not seen to be as worthy as other human beings, so they can be treated as possessions.
Islam is the only system that grants each human the same value and the same rights. Muhammad ﷺ said
«ثَلَاثَةٌ أَنَا خَصْمُهُمْ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ، رَجُلٌ أَعْطَى بِي ثُمَّ غَدَرَ، وَرَجُلٌ بَاعَ حُرًّا فَأَكَلَ ثَمَنَهُ، وَرَجُلٌ اسْتَأْجَرَ أَجِيرًا فَاسْتَوْفَى مِنْهُ وَلَمْ يُعْطِ أَجْرَهُ»
“There are three people whom I will oppose on the Day of Resurrection: a man who gives his word by Me but proves treacherous; a man who sells a free person and consumes the price; and a man who employs a worker and receives a completed job but he does not pay him his wages.” (Sahih Bukhari, Number 430)
Each person has the right to basic needs and the Islamic economic system is one where circulation is required and hoarding is prohibited, preventing an enormous gap between classes and thereby reducing the chances of exploitation at the levels we see today.
The Khilafah system that utilizes education, legislation with a clear link to accountability before Allah سبحانه وتعالى alone is the true solution to bonded slavery and it will be the biggest prize for the exploited in Pakistan and the world.
وَنَزَّلْنَا عَلَيْكَ الْكِتَابَ تِبْيَانًا لِّكُلِّ شَيْءٍ وَهُدًى وَرَحْمَةً وَبُشْرَى لِلْمُسْلِمِينَ
“We revealed the Book to you in explanation of everything, and as guidance, mercy, and good tidings to those who believe.”
(An Nahl: 89)
Nazia Rehman – Pakistan