Children of the Streets

A young boy is honing his newly acquired skills on a motorbike engine under the scorching sun of the late April days. In the meantime, he bears with the latest jargon in the abusive language of the Ustad at a workshop. His frail hands make a slight mistake and draw the wrath of the Ustad who shouts at him and lands a kick in his side. The little boy gives out a painful scream but quickly turns back to work. Watching all this happening from across the road, one feels the urge to treat the so-called Ustad in the same manner. The very next moment you are told not to take the incident too seriously since such happenings are not uncommon at places where little hands work the whole day. Makes ‘sense’, but how will it stop?

It is 10 am in the morning at the Montgomery Road in Lahore and the sun is already shining a bit too hard on the people toiling under its piercing rays, including the young boys wearing their greasy and tattered clothes. Like many other places in the city, child labour seems to be an untold story in this part of the world where the usual hustle and bustle has set into motion, taking in its fold the bitter reality that often goes unnoticed. Those even slightly familiar with the city know that Montgomery Road is known for its many workshops catering to cars and motorbikes. It is here that hundreds of children under the age bracket of eight to 12 years can be seen doing petty manual jobs. Most of them have the same qualities. If you happen to be a customer, they will come to you and insist repeatedly to acquire their services in lieu of a small amount of money.

Coming out of the shock is not easy, at least as long as one is present at the place. There are certain characteristics that these boys share. They are underfed and have a tanned skin. Some of them have stunted growth while others have acquired bad habits such as smoking, etc. Do not be surprised if the young boy, who was imploring you a minute earlier to buy a cover of the pedal, is seen hurling the most vulgar remarks over his companion who has stolen a march on him by intruding into his ‘territory’. Most of them cannot do more than polishing your car, making the mudguards of your motorbike rust-free or selling other accessories.

One would certainly not like to replace his or her own child with the one who found himself on the other side of luck. You brush aside the possibility as a bad dream. You will thank God for the fact that your child enjoys all the comforts of life. But this horrific dream takes place in the life of thousands of impoverished parents and their little children on the streets in Lahore and elsewhere. Unfortunately, not many parents can afford the luxury to provide the comforts of life to their near and dear ones. They are not even sure if they will be able to give them a two-time meal – thus, the workable idea of employing them at a workshop to learn some skills and ensure their livelihood. It is not just the Montgomery Road where children become the ‘helping hands’.

Topping the list is the making of footballs by the nimble fingers in Sialkot. According to a recent report, a Swiss bank has admitted that thousands of soccer balls it had handed out before the summer’s Euro 2008 championships might have been made by children in Pakistan – a case of child labour. As a result, the bank is scheduled to donate more than $ 1 million to the UN.

The painful reality is that these children on the streets do not have an option. If they do not work, if they do not take a daily dose of abuses for no fault of theirs, and if they do not expose themselves to the merciless sun rays of a harsh life, they are not going to survive. This is despite the fact that there are, God knows, how many non-governmental organisations for the uplift of these downtrodden in Pakistan. They get the funds, they spend the funds where ‘needed’, and still the number of such children does not come down. We love holding seminars on the issue of child labour all year round. What else have we done?

The issue of child labour is more complicated than it seems. It is connected with the overall economic situation of the country. One way of handling it is investing in the education sector. But how can we do that when a major chunk of our financial resources is consumed by our spending on the defence budget and debt servicing? Half measures will not do like the much-trumpeted Parha Likha Punjab of the previous government that failed to even partly remove the blot of child labour from the face of our society. So far, we from the civil society can give credit to ourselves only for keeping the issue alive. We should accept that we have not made a real difference in this regard. Where do we lack? Perhaps we do not have the sincerity of purpose; perhaps we lack the will. Or is it both? Unless we find the answers to these questions and take corrective measures, the boy at the workshop will continue receiving the same treatment. Yes, it will be more of the same.