LAHORE: Shazia Bashir, 12, was killed by her Muslim employer, Chaudhry Muhammad Naeem, a rich lawyer, in
Lahore on Jan. 22. Naeem is a former president of
the Lahore Bar Association. Shazia had been
working for 8 months as a domestic (child) worker at
Defense Colony in Lahore. There are more around
10 millions child laborers in Pakistan where
physical violence was a common at work.
Despite
the existence of legislation such as the Employment of Children Act 1991, child labor is on the
rise because of increasing poverty,‘ daily Dawn says. According to The
News of Jan. 25, statistics show that 70 per cent or more female
domestic servants suffer abuse in some form. All domestic servants
remain unprotected by labor laws with no regulations in place as to their hours of work,
leaves and other rights. Shazia worked for only Rs1,000 (US$12) per month as a
domestic worker of that family which had been continuously tortured her. Her body was
badly maimed when she was brought to the Jinnah Hospital Lahore where she died.
According the local
Christians, she was died after severe tortured. She belonged to a very poor
family and was their only source of income. She had one younger brother of
8 years age while her two elder sisters are married.
"We were not allowed to
see her for a long time" her parents told the media. The alleged killer, in the
first instance, tried to pressure her father to compromise with him and offered
Rs. 20,000 (US$250) for the family’s silence in the matter. After facing a
strong resistance from the Shzia‘s family, he brought an officer to intimidate
Sindh Assembly members’ protest
the family but the family did not compromise on their daughter‘s murder. Christian leaders say that police did not
apprehend the accused because Shazia‘s family was poor and belongs to a religious
minority group. Many Christians and Muslims on Jan. 23 protested outside the Punjab
Assembly for hours, demanding action against the alleged killers. Due to public
pressure, an First Information Report (FIR) was lodged by police after at least 18 hours.
And the accused was arrested at least 24 hours after the registration of the FIR.
RESOLUTIONS: The National Assembly and the Punjab Assembly on Jan. 26 passed
Shazia’s family members resolutions against the brutal killing of Shahzia.
LAWYERS: ―The lawyers, accused supporters, on Jan. 26, who thronged the Cantt court from all parts of the
city, not only barred Shazia‘s family members and sympathizers from the court room but also the media persons.
They literally pushed the media persons and restricted them to a corner of the court. Policemen present on the
court premises visibly sided with the rowdy lawyers,‖ daily The News reported.
SECRETS BEHIND CLOSED DOORS: Kamila Hyat writes in The News on Jan. 28 - The fact that harassment,
molestation and occasional murder are a routine part of the life of many domestic servants. This is a documented
reality. According to the Alliance Against Sexual Harassment (AASHA), 91
per cent of female domestic workers say they have suffered sexual abuse
at one point or another. Those like the unfortunate Shazia, who are young
and belong to a minority community, are especially vulnerable. Each
year, there are indeed complaints of abuse from other maids. A few
Muslim NGO’s protest in Multan months ago, a group of wealthy women in Lahore ’helped’ a young girl who complained she was being ’rented out’ almost each night to friends of
her employer, in exchange for money paid to him, to find other employment. What they did not do was initiate
any action against the man and his wife – who, it would appear, abetted him.