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PAKISTAN: Boys
sold as jockeys for Emirates camel racing
 ISLAMABAD,
29 May 2001 (IRIN) - At least 30 boys a month are being
kidnapped in Pakistan and taken to the United Arab Emirates
(UAE), where they are sold to work as camel-racing jockeys,
Ansar Burney, chairman of a human rights organisation
in Karachi, told IRIN.
The Ansar Burney Welfare Trust International (ABWTI),
said the number of children being smuggled abroad from
Pakistan was rapidly rising, and that more than 2,000
had been taken to so-called camel camps over the last
two years. Girl jockeys are not favoured for religious
and cultural reasons, but boys, especially those younger
and lighter, are being targeted. Some were as young
as three, Burney noted. “The children are kept
in terrible conditions at the camps. They are fed one
meal a day to keep their weight down, putting them at
risk of malnutrition,” he added.
Burney maintained that most of the agents kidnapping
the children were Pakistani. He said they could “easily
get fake birth certificates, passports, and even fake
parents, so that the Arab camel owners thought they
were brought in with full consent”. Children are
sold for as much as US $3,000. The UAE has banned the
use of child jockeys, but camel racing is popular in
the Gulf states, with the trade continuing unchecked.
The ABWTI rescued 49 children from camel farms in the
UAE this year. “I try and visit camps at least
once a month, but it is very difficult and very dangerous.
I have had a lot of threats because of my work in trying
to save the youngsters,” Burney said.
The recent death of six year-old Amir Abbas, who, Burney
said, was taken to Abu Dhabi two years ago, has prompted
publicity over the issue. Burney said Abbas’s
father and five family members were tricked into going
to the Gulf state with promises of a brighter future.
The parents, thinking they were putting their son up
for adoption, found out only weeks ago that he had been
sold to the camel-racing trade, and was in hospital
after a serious fall. The six year-old died earlier
this month from horrific injuries. ABWTI is making arrangements
for the boy’s burial in Pakistan, and for the
family to be flown home. Official statistics on the
number of Pakistani children killed as a result of the
trade do not exist, with most cases going undetected.
Meanwhile, a report released on 25 May by the UN International
Labour Organisation (ILO) warned that forced labour
and human trafficking were on the rise worldwide, especially
targeting women and children, and were assuming “new
and insidious forms”.
The Islamabad branch of the ILO has launched a project
to try to stem child trafficking in South Asia. It is
working with governments to eradicate the practice,
and has commitment from India, Bangladesh and Nepal,
though as yet Pakistan has refrained from giving support.
“The Pakistani government denied that children
are being taken out of the country for such activities,
so it won’t take part in the programme,”
said Johannes Lokollo, ILO director for Pakistan. Lokollo
expressed fears that the trade in Pakistan was on a
huge scale.
Burney said he had received cooperation from authorities
in the UAE, and planned to approach Pakistan’s
Chief Executive, General Pervez Musharraf, for help
in eliminating the illegal trade. “Kidnapping
is banned in Pakistan, but, like many other illegal
things in the country, this type of trade continues
at the cost of innocent lives,” he added. 
United
Arab Emirates police rescue 2 kidnapped Pakistani boys
November 5, 2000
Web posted at: 8:48 AM EST (1348 GMT)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (Reuters) -- United
Arab Emirates police rescued two Pakistani brothers
aged 6 and 4 who had been kidnapped to work as jockeys
in camel races, newspapers reported on Sunday.
They said police raided a camel farm in the oasis town
of al-Ain on a tip from the Pakistani embassy and rescued
the two boys, allegedly abducted and flown to the Gulf
Arab state.
The 6-year-old boy, identified as Shajar, was being
treated in hospital for unspecified leg injuries. He
told the English-language Gulf News daily that he had
been treated badly at the camel farm.
The UAE, where camel racing is popular, banned the
use of young boys as camel jockeys in 1993 and specified
jockeys should not weigh less than 45 kilograms (100
pounds).
A Pakistani boy in September escaped a man who had
kidnapped him to make him work as a camel jockey in
the UAE and at least two boys, a Pakistani and a Bangladeshi,
were rescued last year after being abducted to work
as jockeys in the UAE.
The newspapers said the brothers were kidnapped from
their home in northwest Pakistan three months ago. They
were brought illegally to the UAE through Iran by two
people on forged passports and false birth certificates.
In the UAE they were sold to a Pakistani man for 20,000
dirhams ($5,445) each, the newspapers said.
Relatives of the boys, whose father works in Dubai
as a gardener, informed the Ansar Burney Welfare Trust,
which has been involved in the past with finding seized
Pakistani children.
Trust chairman Ansar Burney flew to the UAE to search
for the boys and with the help of the Pakistani embassy
informed the Abu Dhabi police.
Shajar told the Gulf News that the kidnappers told
him he would be meeting his father in Dubai. "But
when I came here they started treating me badly. Whenever
I asked them about my father I was told to shut my mouth."
Two camel
kids handed over to parents
DERA GHAZI KHAN: The Ansar Burney Welfare Trust handed
over two children made camel jockeys in the United Arab
Emirates to their parents in the suburbs of Dera Ghazi
Khan on Wednesday. Ansar Burney rescued the two children
last year with the cooperation of the Pakistan Embassy
in Abu Dhabi. Khalid, 6, and Faiz, 7, were kidnapped
from Pakistan and smuggled to the UAE for use as ‘child
camel jockeys’ with fake parents and documents.
They participated in camel race.
Pakistani
illegal immigrants to return home from Oman this week
(AP)
21 September 2004
ISLAMABAD - Some 800 Pakistanis freed by Oman after
being caught having traveled there illegally will return
home this week, a Pakistani human rights group said
on Tuesday.
The 800 men were captured without valid travel documents
in recent years after having been smuggled into Oman
by human traffickers, the Ansar Burney Welfare Trust
International said in a statement.
The men were freed Sunday and two ferries carrying
them back will arrive at the main port of Karachi on
Wednesday, it said.
The organization and Pakistan’s government negotiated
their release last week.
Oman deports thousands of Pakistanis annually. Many
Pakistanis seeking jobs in Gulf countries often pay
traffickers to help them travel there. The smugglers
charge sums ranging from 10,000 to 30,000 rupees (US$200
to US$600; euro 242 to 726), a huge amount in Pakistan,
where nearly one-third of the nation’s 150 million
people earn less than 750 rupees (US$15; euro 18) a
month.
Authorities have said they are taking action against
the human traffickers.
1,201
Pakistani deportees arrive home from Oman
Pakistan Times National News Desk
KARACHI: One Thousand two hundred and one (1,201) Pakistani
prisoners arrested in Muscat, (Oman) few months earlier
for illegal entry and employment, released and returned
back home on Saturday morning.
According to an ABWT press release, their release could
become fruitful because of the efforts of human rights
organisation the Ansar Burney Welfare Trust International,
Pakistan Embassy at Muscat and the kind cooperation
of the Omani Government.
The 1,201 men, who were arrested over the past month,
arrived here in two different Boats, Al-Mohammadi 2
and Al-Fajar, at Ghasbandar, Keemari the port city of
Karachi on Saturday, after leaving the Muscat capital
of Oman four days ago on horrifying journey of sea.
These 1,201 Pakistani prisoners were released and came
back home because of the efforts of Pakistan Embassy
at Muscat, Ansar Burney Welfare Trust International
and kind cooperation of the Government of Oman in Muscat.
The Vice Chairman of the Ansar Burney Welfare Trust
International and Prisoners Aid Society, Syed Fahad
Burney, thanked and appreciated the kind cooperation
of the Government of Oman for the release of Pakistani
Prisoners. He also appreciated the efforts of the Pakistan
Embassy in Muscat and it's Community Welfare Attache,
Mr Sohail Siddiqi in this regard.
These Pakistanis were recently arrested by the Oman
Boarder Security forces while entering into Muscat Illegally.
At the arrival of 1,201 released Pakistani prisoners
from Muscat at Ghasbander, Keemari the Sea Port of Karachi
the Ansar Burney Welfare Trust International, even of
fasting month of Ramadan, has arranged special food,
drinking water, clothes and other necessaries of life,
as they were hungry and thirsty during sea journey.
Ansar Burney Welfare Trust International also paid cash
money to most of the returnees so that they could be
able to
go their homes in far flung areas.
Touching scenes were witnessed at the sea port, as
the returnees came out from the Cargo Boats Al-Mohammadi
2 and Al-Fajar, where they were received by the Vice
Chairman of the Trust, Syed Fahad Burney and other volunteers
of the Trust. These Pakistanis immediately felt down
and bow down to thank Almighty Allah who saved their
lives and they were been able to come back home.
Fahad Burney said the relatives of other prisoners
in Foreign Jails could also be contacted to Ansar Burney
Welfare Trust International at 6 Hassan Manzil, Arambagh
Road, Karachi or by phone; (021) 2626274, 2628719, 2623382,
2623383 or by Mobile: 0300 8243459.
It may be recall here that in the last 24 years Ansar
Burney Welfare Trust International has so far been able
to get release of more than 600,000 (Six hundred thousand)
innocent prisoners who were illegally imprisoned in
Pakistan as well as in other Countries. Some of them
were released after 50 to 55 years of illegal confinement
and some of them were even born in prisons and mental
asylums and released after 35 to 40 long years only
because of the hectic efforts of this organisation and
Chairman Ansar Burney, Advocate.
The "Ansar Burney Welfare Trust International"
has also arranged release of around 20,000 (twenty thousand)
persons from mental asylums and mental wards of prisons,
these were not mental cases but were kept in these asylums
by some influential persons due to their own vested
interests. These people after their release were reunited
with their family, who in some cases, were not even
aware that their relative was alive. Others were provided
a shelter and other basic needs while they were given
a more "normal" life outside captivity.
The Ansar Burney Welfare Trust International has also
been successful to trace out more than 100,000 (one
hundred thousand) children through the Bureau of Missing
Persons (also part of ABWTI) who were safely delivered
to their families. These include children who were set
free from bounded labour camps and young girls who had
been sold away for prostitution. Some of these children
were brought back from foreign countries where they
were taken for labour work, sex, camel riding, smuggling
or to be sold off.
602 deported
from Muscat arrive, 700 others due today
By Tahir Siddiqui
KARACHI, Nov 10: As many as 602 deported job-seekers
reached here on Wednesday by a cargo launch, raising
the total number of Pakistanis deported from Muscat
during the current year to more than 7,420.
The jobseekers, almost all of them illiterate, had
been smuggled to the Gulf state through Taftan crossing
the Pakistan- Iran border illegally near Mand Ballu.
They paid the human traffickers different amounts ranging
from Rs5,000 to Rs15,000.
The Al-Fajr, owned by a Dubai-based Arab, was the fourth
cargo launch carrying deportees from the Gulf state
that reached here this month.
Dirt was on them like plasters, as most of them remained
in prison for several days before they were crammed
into the cargo launch, which had neither life boat nor
life jackets.
Except the emergency passports issued by the Pakistani
mission in Oman, the deportees, most of whom were bare-footed,
had no personal belongings or luggage.
Official figures showed that 2,794 jobseekers had reached
here after being deported from Muscat this month, while
another batch of over 700 deportees were scheduled to
reach here on Thursday.
The deportees, who did not fast during their three-day
voyage, had to wait for hours to get through the immigration
process though a strong of FIA immigration and passport
circle staffers were deputed at Ghas Bandar.
Exhausted by hunger and thirst, the deportees had a
sigh of relief when they found Ansar Burney Trust vehicles
there with drinking water and food for them. They were
released one by one after the FIA checked their emergency
passports.
The racket of human smuggling to Muscat from Mand Ballu,
Balochistan, has been ruthlessly playing with the lives
of innocent jobseekers for the past several years.
According to deportees, they travelled in the human
traffickers' vehicles in the batches of 22 each for
two days to reach an Iranian border town, Jaishak. After
an overnight stay, they again set out and reach another
town in further two days. Afterwards, they were taken
in other vehicles to a jetty where they were herded
into small launches. After a 10-hour sail, they were
abandoned in the coastal area near Muscat, where authorities
round them up and send them to jails.
Pakistani captain of the Al-Fajr, Dur Mohammad, said
that this launch was previously used for the transportation
of mango, onion and fodder. "It was really a difficult
task to sail with so many people as the launch has the
capacity for only 200 passengers," he said.
He said that the Muscat authorities had provided 15,000
loaves and 1,080 tins of beans for the deportees for
their 48- hour voyage.
Shah Nawaz, 23, who hailed from Rajanpur, said that
he reached Karachi after he was told in his area about
the prospects of going to Muscat through launch. He
said that he went to the Lea Market and boarded a Mand
Ballu-bound bus. "We were handed over to an Iranian
agent who boarded us on a launch for Muscat," he
said.
Some of them were newly-wed and they had to sell out
their wives' jewellery in the hope of better future,
while most of the jobseekers had borrowed money. They
identified their respective agents as Raees, Maula Bukhsh,
Yousuf, Anver, Mehmood and Haji Bukhsh, who was an Iranian.
Imam Bukhsh Brohi, a young man from Shikarpur, said
that he came Karachi on Aug 10. "I along with five
others boarded a bus from Lea Market for Mand Ballu.
Later, we were shifted to Jaishak in a pick-up,"
he said.
He further said that his batch of 22 people were crammed
into a launch and they reached the coast of Muscat after
a nine-hour voyage. "The launch left after we disembarked
at night. There was nothing but darkness all along and
we were caught by police in the morning," he said.
The deportee said that he and others were confined
at a nearby police kiosk for eight days before they
were shifted to Barkah Jail. He remained in jail for
nine more days.
Mohammad Khalil, belonging to Dera Ghazi Khan, said
that he had come to Karachi two months ago. "I
sold my camel for Rs13,000 to manage my journey to Muscat.
There, I got a job of camel caretaker with an Arab.
I worked for a month, but my employer refused to pay
me and I left his place. I was still on a look-out when
the authorities caught me," he said.
Habib Ahmed, a 22-year-old man from Mardan, said that
the operators of buses at Lea Market had their own agents,
who charge Rs9,000 for taking a job-seeker to Muscat.
Akhtar Ali, hailing from Swabi, was the only matriculate
among the deportees. He said that he had paid Rs10,000
to an agent, Taoos Khan. He had spent 17 days on the
deserted mountains near the coast after being smuggled
into the Gulf state, he added.
According to the deportees, there are over 1,100 more
Pakistani jobseekers still confined in the Sahaar Jail
in miserable conditions. They also complained of mistreatment
on part of the jail authorities in Muscat.
623 released
from Muscat jails arrive
26 April 2004 Monday 05 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1425
KARACHI, April 25: A batch of 623 Pakistani prisoners,
released from the jails of Muscat, arrived here on Sunday
morning. These Pakistanis were smuggled for slave labour
to Muscat, where they were arrested. They had been in
jails for the last several months.
Their return was made possible with the efforts and
support of the Ansar Burney Welfare Trust, Interior
Ministry and Ministry of Foreign Affairs. After travelling
in open sea for four days without food and drinking
water on a cargo boat Al-Mohammadi 2, these Pakistanis
reached Ghasbander at Keamari.
According to a statement issued by the Ansar Burney
Trust, the returnees were given food and drinking water
on their arrival. The trust provided new clothes and
sleepers to them and some cash in most cases so that
they could go to their hometowns. -APP
Supreme
Court stays Rubina's execution
By Our Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD, July 9: A Supreme Court bench on Monday stayed
the execution of Ms Rubina, a condemned prisoner in
Multan central jail, until the decision of her mercy
petition by the President of Pakistan.
Acting suo moto on the application moved by Ansar Burney
Welfare Trust, CJ Irshad Hasan Khan, had ordered SC
office to register it as a human rights case.
The case was placed before a three-judges bench, comprising
Chief Justice Irshad Hasan Khan, Justice Chaudhry Mohammad
Arif, and Justice Qazi Mohammad Farooq, which stayed
the execution of Ms Rubina.
The court observed that the mercy petition moved on
behalf of Ms Rubina should be disposed of by the President
of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan on merit and in
accordance with law as expeditiously as possible.
When the case was taken up by the SC bench, Advocate
General Punjab Maqbool Elahi Malik, who was present
in the court in some other case stated that it would
be fair if, till the decision of her mercy petition,
the execution of Ms. Rubina, was stayed.
In the application filed by Ansar Burney Trust, it
was stated that the woman had already suffered a lot
during police investigation.
First, her cruel husband divorced her leaving her alone
with her seven-year-old daughter. Ms Rubina was seven
months pregnant at the time of her detention. It was
further stated that she was brutalized during detention,
as a result she had a miscarriage but no case of murder
was registered against police.
Ansar Burney Welfare Trust International has moved
a mercy petition to the President of Pakistan, requesting
him to convert her death sentence into life imprisonment.
Copy of the SC order was supplied to advocate-general,
Punjab, secretary interior ministry, Government of Pakistan,
secretary law, justice and human rights, principal secretary
to the President of Pakistan, secretary home department,
government of Punjab, Lahore and Mr Ansar Burney, attorney/chairman.
KARACHI:
Deported Pakistanis arrive from Oman
By Tahir Siddiqui
KARACHI, Dec 10: Another 1,025 worn-out job seekers
arrived here on Friday by two cargo launches, taking
the total of Pakistanis deported from Muscat during
the current year alone to more than 4,000.
The job seekers, most of them illiterate and hailing
from upcountry, had been smuggled to the Gulf state
through Taftan, crossing the Pakistan-Iran border illegally
near Mand Ballu. They paid the human traffickers different
amounts ranging from Rs5,000 to Rs25,000.
Their clothes were caked with dirt as they remained
in prisons for several days before being deported by
the cargo launches - Al-Qadri and Al-Fannan - which
arrived here after a 30-hour voyage with the overloaded
human cargo.
They say that over 2,000 Pakistanis are still in jails
where conditions are too miserable. As many as 605 deportees
had come back on Nov 14 from Muscat. Another 727 had
been deported in late October from the Gulf state, followed
by 774 more in late August.
The job seekers, most of them bare-foot, returned with
no personal elongings or documents on them, except the
emergency passports issued by the Pakistani mission
in Oman. A strong team of the Immigration and Passport
Circle staff was deployed at the immigration check-post
at Ghas Bandar, where the deportees were given food
and water by the Ansar Burney Trust.
According to the deportees, their batches travelled
in the human traffickers' vehicles for two days to reach
an Iranian border town. After an overnight stay, they
again set out and reached another town in the next two
days.
There, the vehicles left, and they were taken in other
vehicles to a jetty where they were herded into small
launches. After a 10-hour sail, they were abandoned
in the coastal area near Muscat where authorities rounded
them up and sent to jails.
The FIA officials said the deportees also included
a sub-agent of the human traffickers. They said the
agent was identified as Noor Khawaf, hailing from Bunair.
The officials said the suspected agent had obtained
Rs15,000 each from at least 115 job seekers. He was
arrested and sent to the Passport Circle for further
legal action, they added.
Latvia
releases 10 Pakistani players
22 December 2003 Monday 27 Shawwal 1424
KARACHI, Dec 22: The 10 Pakistani Taekwando players
will arrive in Lahore on Tuesday, after being released
by Latvian Government. They were arrested on charges
of suspicion of terrorism on November 21, 2003 in Latvia
when, after completing their tournament, they were about
to return. The release order was issued by the Ministry
of Interior of Latvia on application moved by Ansar
Burney Trust International. The Trust also made all
necessary arrangements in Latvia for safe return of
the team to Lahore, Allama Iqbal International Airport.
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