Young children coming from poor households all over Pakistan are working to support their families, you see it every day on the streets, in hotels, at dhabas and though the number is high and rising some are still less known and work behind closed doors in rich/ middle-class households.
Pakistan is a third world country and due to its poor financial state, the people are left to fend for themselves through hard-earnings, and even if at times that means putting their little ones up for work. A recent documentary by BBC called ‘Our World’ the, highlights the situation that some children face as servants in the homes of the rich. The youngest domestic workers are of 8-9 years old. There is an estimated total of 10,000 desperate families that send their children to work and about 250,000 children working as domestic workers, there is no law that prevents the children from working in homes.
The issue is not about the way the kids are working and not learning, but that is for another elaborated article, the issue is the physical and emotional trauma that the children face at the hands of their superior, for the recent stories that have surfaced on the internet are enough to make one question about the humanity of this nation and its people. The innocent soul such as Akhter was escalated to the point of death and little angels such as Fatima who was 5 years at the time and Tayaba were tortured brutally, their hands burned, beaten and kicked, as though they were some ragged dolls. Many kids are emotionally tortured if not physically to the point of madness, in most cases the desperate families do not report the issue for fear of not getting justice and the threats they might receive.
It is about time the government steps up and focuses its attention on the future of the nation, it’s youth and its little angles. It is also time people also start taking action against such predators who abuse and take away the childhood of the little angels.