The enslavement of poor Hindus by Muslim zamindars and business owners is one of the facets of Pakistani society that is hidden from Bharatiyas and the rest of the world. Once in a while, we hear of Hindus being rescued from horrible captivity, where entire families are treated as bonded laborers across generations, due to efforts of human rights activists.

In one such case from Khoski, Badin district of Sindh province, 21 bonded laborers and their family members, including little children, who were being forced to work in a brick kiln, were released after a court order. The news was shared by Pakistani Hindu activist Narain Das Bheel.

As per a 2015 report in Dawn, over 2.3 million people face bonded labour in Pakistan, with over 80% (1.84 million) of them being Hindus. The population of Pakistani Hindus as per the 2017 Census is 4.44 million (Pakistan counts Scheduled Castes as separate from Hindus, denying them the basic right to be identified with their religion), which would mean that a staggering 40% of Pakistani Hindus are living an excruciating life of slavery!

Various forms of slavery still exist within Pakistan’s borders, said Pakistani rights activist Dr. Ghulam Haider, while adding that the inhuman practice was rampant in the agriculture industry, in brick kilns and fisheries, and these bonded laborers were mercilessly exploited by influential landlords committing atrocities against vulnerable communities.

“There is no political will to curb human rights violations that take place against bonded labourers. Influential landlords do not pay dues to the share-croppers and pea­sant labourers and instead resort to violation in case a labourer demands his rights. In some instances, landlords have even lodged fake cases against peasants who demanded their due share,” another activist is quoted as saying in the Dawn report.

The report records the testimony of Raju, a female peasant from Sanghar district in Sindh. She was freed from bonded labour in 1998 with the help of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and has been working since to release others from this form of modern slavery. She shared tales of back-breaking workload, non-payment by land-owners, lack of food, and rampant physical and sexual abuse. The children of bonded labourers are also not free and remain under the control of the landowners indefinitely.