Muno Bheel belongs to minority community, and had worked on farmlands
of influential landlord Abdul Rehman Mari of Jhol in district Sanghar
along with his family for years. He is seeking recovery of his family
held by landlord as bonded labour and kept in private jail since May
1998. His family was once recovered by police on order of Sindh High
Court on petition of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan Sindh office
in early 1998 but on 2nd May same year the landlord with his armed men
raided home of Muno Bheel in village Jam Waryam Memon near Jhudo in
Mirpurkhas district and kidnapped 9 members of his family who are
missing since then. Muno Bheel had filed case of kidnapping of his
family including his elderly parents,wife, daughters and son at police
station Jhudo in Mirpurkhas district wide crime number 35/98 but
police took no action to recover the kidnapped peasant family. Since
then he has run after post to pillar for recovery of his family and
had observed the longest hunger strike in history of Pakistan in front
of press club Hyderabad for 1287 days. Chief Justice of Pakistan
Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chowdhry had taken suo moto action in 2006
and had called to court Sindh chief secretary and Inspector General
police, had ordered them to recover family of Muno Bheel yet Muno was
still awaiting liberation of his family from private jail of landlord.
Chief Justice had appointed DIG of Mirpurkhas division Rana
Saleemullah Khan for recovery of Muno Bheel family and when, according
to Rana, he was close to a place where this peasant family was kept,
he was not only transferred but also suspended by then Sindh chief
minister Arbab Rahim for the reason that if police put hands on
landlord Mari his government might fall down as the Mari landlord is
Khalifa of a politically influential Pir on whose support every
successive government in Sindh survives.
In September 2003 an MPA of PPP Ghulam Qadir Chandio of Nawabshah
district had raised voice for recovery of family of Munoo Bheel kept
captive by landlord Mari and forced to work as bonded labour in Sindh
Assembly. Then Sindh law minister Chowdhry Iftikhar ( from Sanghar
district) had assured the house for early recovery of bonded family
but since those days government has taken no step to get release of
the family.
Meanwhile an human rights body Peace and Human Rights Trust filed a
petition in Sindh high Court Hyderabad circuit bench against landlord
Mari who had got bail from district court Mirpurkhas against FIR
35/98 of Jhudo police station. On plea of advocates of PHRT Rana Aslam
and Justice ( retired) Rashid Rizvi , Sindh High Court cancelled
bail of landlord who was then arrested in April 2006 and remained in
Hyderabad central jail for 18 months. But yet police failed to recover
family of Munoo Bheel from his private jail at his farm near Jhol town
of district Sanghar. The landlords of Sindh are said to sell the
peasants to their brethren landlords in Balochistan as such the
family of Muno Bheel is also said to have been sold by Abdul Rehman
Mari there.
Sindh being a feudal society, there is no procedure of any account
of how much crop the peasant has raised and his share in it. And as is
the practice that landlord provides ration to each peasant family as
subsistence so that they can live and work for him as slaves. And at
end of each crop tells them that the debt they had taken from him at
time they had started working on his farms, has multiplied as such
they are not allowed to leave his lands and have to work generation
after generation to liquidate the debt that never comes to end. They
are not allowed move out of landlords farms and many are kept in
chains and under tight security of armed men of landlord. The bonded
or forced labour is modern form of slavery.Though there is law called
Sindh Tenancy Act under provisions of which landlord and peasant are
to share production of crops on equal basis that is half share to each
but the law is never implemented and Mukhtiarkar ( the land revenue
officer of Tehsil) is the sole arbiter under the law who always takes
sides with landlord. In 1992 ( during rule of Nawaz Sharif) a law
named Bonded Labour System Abolition Act was enacted yet the practice
of bonded labour still continues in country and according to surevy
conducted by Comrade Ramzan Memon of Bhandar Hari Sangat even today
there are around 2 million bonded peasants working on agriculture
farms of landlords in Sindh. The worst affected areas with regard to
bonded labour in Sindh are districts of Sanghar, Mirpurkhas and Thar.
Majority of bonded peasants who till lands of big landlords of lower
Sindh districts above mentioned and whose families are kept in private
jails belong to Hindu minority people of Bheel, Kolhi and Meghwar
communities.
Various human rights organizations including Human Rights Commission
of Pakistan, Peace and Human Rights Trust,Green Rural Development
Organization and others have liberated through courts thousands of
bonded labour from farm lands of landlords as well as from brick
klins. The liberated families are living in 5 Hari camps around
Hyderabad namely Sikendarabad Hari camp,Mukhtar Rana Hari camp and
Baba Salahuddin Hari camp near Kotri and at Husri and Azad Nagar near
Hyderabad. Aslam Rana advocate and president of Pakistan chapter of
Peace and Human Rights Trust has said that under Bonded Labour System
Abolition Act 1992 and rules framed under it the district governments
were made responsible for liberation of bonded labour from their
districts and for rehabilitation of liberated families including
providing them homes, technical training to enable them to get jobs,
schools and dispensaries at Hari camps but district governments of
Hyderabad and Jamshoro have done nothing for rehabilitation of
liberated Hari families who are living in Hari camps miserable life,
many under open sky with no homes, no schools, no dispensary, no
drainage, no jobs, no water for drinking and no electricity. Under
such cirsumtances scores of liberated families finding to source of
livelihood and no human basic need at Hari camps,had gone back to
rural villages and engaged again by landlords to till their lands as
bonded labour. Dr. Ashothama, Sindh Coordinator of Human Rights
Commission of Pakistan has told that the commission can get release of
bonded labour from private jails of landlords and brick klin owners
through court orders obtained by their lawyers and with help of police
but the commission has no resources for their rehabilitation. It was
solely the responsibility of government ( be it federal, provincial or
district) under Bonded Labour System Abolition Act and as the
governement has no intention to implement this law like other laws,
the poor peasant community of Sindh, Hindus and Muslims are destined
to work as bonded labour and continue to serve the feudal lords by
remaining in their private jails. Their plight can end only when the
Jagirdari and big land holdings are abolished and land distributed
among the landless tillers. This is impossible for time being as these
very big landlords and Jagiradars continue to rule the country since
creation. In democracies landlords, being members of big political
parties, are elected to assemblies and become members of cabinets
while during military dictaorships they are sold easily to Generals
and picked up to serve them in their cabinets. The peasants had seen a
ray of hope in MQM chief Altaf Hussain when he raises their voice in
his public meetings by demanding abolition of Jagirdari system but
within few days he succumbs to compromise under political
considerations with feudal rulers. Muno Bheel is living in a katcha
home in Hari camp Sikendarabad near Kotri town of Jamshoro district
along with around 300 other families of liberated peasants moslty of
minority community in a condition without basic needs of life. At 60
he is still hopeful that one day he could he able to meet with his
family he has not seen since 1998.
of influential landlord Abdul Rehman Mari of Jhol in district Sanghar
along with his family for years. He is seeking recovery of his family
held by landlord as bonded labour and kept in private jail since May
1998. His family was once recovered by police on order of Sindh High
Court on petition of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan Sindh office
in early 1998 but on 2nd May same year the landlord with his armed men
raided home of Muno Bheel in village Jam Waryam Memon near Jhudo in
Mirpurkhas district and kidnapped 9 members of his family who are
missing since then. Muno Bheel had filed case of kidnapping of his
family including his elderly parents,wife, daughters and son at police
station Jhudo in Mirpurkhas district wide crime number 35/98 but
police took no action to recover the kidnapped peasant family. Since
then he has run after post to pillar for recovery of his family and
had observed the longest hunger strike in history of Pakistan in front
of press club Hyderabad for 1287 days. Chief Justice of Pakistan
Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chowdhry had taken suo moto action in 2006
and had called to court Sindh chief secretary and Inspector General
police, had ordered them to recover family of Muno Bheel yet Muno was
still awaiting liberation of his family from private jail of landlord.
Chief Justice had appointed DIG of Mirpurkhas division Rana
Saleemullah Khan for recovery of Muno Bheel family and when, according
to Rana, he was close to a place where this peasant family was kept,
he was not only transferred but also suspended by then Sindh chief
minister Arbab Rahim for the reason that if police put hands on
landlord Mari his government might fall down as the Mari landlord is
Khalifa of a politically influential Pir on whose support every
successive government in Sindh survives.
In September 2003 an MPA of PPP Ghulam Qadir Chandio of Nawabshah
district had raised voice for recovery of family of Munoo Bheel kept
captive by landlord Mari and forced to work as bonded labour in Sindh
Assembly. Then Sindh law minister Chowdhry Iftikhar ( from Sanghar
district) had assured the house for early recovery of bonded family
but since those days government has taken no step to get release of
the family.
Meanwhile an human rights body Peace and Human Rights Trust filed a
petition in Sindh high Court Hyderabad circuit bench against landlord
Mari who had got bail from district court Mirpurkhas against FIR
35/98 of Jhudo police station. On plea of advocates of PHRT Rana Aslam
and Justice ( retired) Rashid Rizvi , Sindh High Court cancelled
bail of landlord who was then arrested in April 2006 and remained in
Hyderabad central jail for 18 months. But yet police failed to recover
family of Munoo Bheel from his private jail at his farm near Jhol town
of district Sanghar. The landlords of Sindh are said to sell the
peasants to their brethren landlords in Balochistan as such the
family of Muno Bheel is also said to have been sold by Abdul Rehman
Mari there.
Sindh being a feudal society, there is no procedure of any account
of how much crop the peasant has raised and his share in it. And as is
the practice that landlord provides ration to each peasant family as
subsistence so that they can live and work for him as slaves. And at
end of each crop tells them that the debt they had taken from him at
time they had started working on his farms, has multiplied as such
they are not allowed to leave his lands and have to work generation
after generation to liquidate the debt that never comes to end. They
are not allowed move out of landlords farms and many are kept in
chains and under tight security of armed men of landlord. The bonded
or forced labour is modern form of slavery.Though there is law called
Sindh Tenancy Act under provisions of which landlord and peasant are
to share production of crops on equal basis that is half share to each
but the law is never implemented and Mukhtiarkar ( the land revenue
officer of Tehsil) is the sole arbiter under the law who always takes
sides with landlord. In 1992 ( during rule of Nawaz Sharif) a law
named Bonded Labour System Abolition Act was enacted yet the practice
of bonded labour still continues in country and according to surevy
conducted by Comrade Ramzan Memon of Bhandar Hari Sangat even today
there are around 2 million bonded peasants working on agriculture
farms of landlords in Sindh. The worst affected areas with regard to
bonded labour in Sindh are districts of Sanghar, Mirpurkhas and Thar.
Majority of bonded peasants who till lands of big landlords of lower
Sindh districts above mentioned and whose families are kept in private
jails belong to Hindu minority people of Bheel, Kolhi and Meghwar
communities.
Various human rights organizations including Human Rights Commission
of Pakistan, Peace and Human Rights Trust,Green Rural Development
Organization and others have liberated through courts thousands of
bonded labour from farm lands of landlords as well as from brick
klins. The liberated families are living in 5 Hari camps around
Hyderabad namely Sikendarabad Hari camp,Mukhtar Rana Hari camp and
Baba Salahuddin Hari camp near Kotri and at Husri and Azad Nagar near
Hyderabad. Aslam Rana advocate and president of Pakistan chapter of
Peace and Human Rights Trust has said that under Bonded Labour System
Abolition Act 1992 and rules framed under it the district governments
were made responsible for liberation of bonded labour from their
districts and for rehabilitation of liberated families including
providing them homes, technical training to enable them to get jobs,
schools and dispensaries at Hari camps but district governments of
Hyderabad and Jamshoro have done nothing for rehabilitation of
liberated Hari families who are living in Hari camps miserable life,
many under open sky with no homes, no schools, no dispensary, no
drainage, no jobs, no water for drinking and no electricity. Under
such cirsumtances scores of liberated families finding to source of
livelihood and no human basic need at Hari camps,had gone back to
rural villages and engaged again by landlords to till their lands as
bonded labour. Dr. Ashothama, Sindh Coordinator of Human Rights
Commission of Pakistan has told that the commission can get release of
bonded labour from private jails of landlords and brick klin owners
through court orders obtained by their lawyers and with help of police
but the commission has no resources for their rehabilitation. It was
solely the responsibility of government ( be it federal, provincial or
district) under Bonded Labour System Abolition Act and as the
governement has no intention to implement this law like other laws,
the poor peasant community of Sindh, Hindus and Muslims are destined
to work as bonded labour and continue to serve the feudal lords by
remaining in their private jails. Their plight can end only when the
Jagirdari and big land holdings are abolished and land distributed
among the landless tillers. This is impossible for time being as these
very big landlords and Jagiradars continue to rule the country since
creation. In democracies landlords, being members of big political
parties, are elected to assemblies and become members of cabinets
while during military dictaorships they are sold easily to Generals
and picked up to serve them in their cabinets. The peasants had seen a
ray of hope in MQM chief Altaf Hussain when he raises their voice in
his public meetings by demanding abolition of Jagirdari system but
within few days he succumbs to compromise under political
considerations with feudal rulers. Muno Bheel is living in a katcha
home in Hari camp Sikendarabad near Kotri town of Jamshoro district
along with around 300 other families of liberated peasants moslty of
minority community in a condition without basic needs of life. At 60
he is still hopeful that one day he could he able to meet with his
family he has not seen since 1998.