Christian Family Of Nine Fears Retaliation After Freedom From Pakistan Brick Kiln (Worthy News Focus)
by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Chief International Correspondent
LAHORE, PAKISTAN (Worthy News) – Members of a Christian family of nine say they fear for their lives after being freed through court intervention from a brick kiln in eastern Pakistan following 11 years of alleged forced labor, beatings, threats and severely reduced wages.
Video footage shared with Worthy News shows the Masih family describing years of apparent abuse at a brick kiln near Lahore, the capital of Pakistan’s Punjab province.
A young boy recalled bringing food to relatives working at the kiln and witnessing violence. “The contractor would use bad language and hit my father and uncle,” he said. Asked whether he was frightened, the child answered: “Yes.”
Babar Masih said the family lived and worked at the kiln for 11 years, including the children. He alleged that workers were routinely abused and sometimes beaten when they sought money for medical treatment.
FAMILY ALLEGES YEARS OF ABUSE
“They would beat us, commit atrocities and use bad language,” Masih recalled.
Masih also alleged that a kiln employee struck his daughter, damaging one of her eyes. Worthy News could not independently verify the injury.
He said the family was threatened with death, alleging that one kiln owner warned them they could be killed without even their graves being found.
The family said wages were far below legal levels. Babar Masih recalled receiving between 800 and 1,000 Pakistani rupees ($3-$4) per day, while a lawyer who helped the family said the applicable daily wage was 2,200 rupees ($8).
FAMILY TRAPPED BY DEBT
The family also described struggling to obtain money for medical treatment. Their father became seriously ill and later died after relatives said they were unable to obtain adequate financial assistance for his care.
The family says its predicament was linked to debt claimed by the kiln operators, part of a system rights advocates describe as modern-day slavery. Workers can receive advances from kiln owners and then have money deducted from already low wages to repay them. But additional advances, living expenses and disputed accounting can cause the amount claimed by employers to remain unpaid or even increase, leaving workers trapped in a cycle of debt and labor.
A lawyer who helped secure the family’s release said their original debt was about 416,000 rupees ($1,500), but despite years of wage deductions, the amount demanded by the kiln operators kept rising.
Babar Masih confirmed that a lawyer eventually intervened on the family’s behalf. Asked in the video whether she had rescued them, he replied: “Yes, through the court.”
THREATS CONTINUE AFTER RELEASE
However, the family says its freedom has not ended the intimidation.
“They still bother us, they call us, they give threats too,” Babar Masih said. He alleged that people connected with the kiln were searching for family members through relatives and other contacts.
The family is now appealing to authorities for protection and justice.
Despite its persistence, bonded labor is illegal in Pakistan. The country’s Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act abolished the system and freed bonded workers from any obligation to continue working to repay such debts.
BONDED LABOR ILLEGAL
The legislation also extinguished liability for bonded debts and made agreements requiring people or their relatives to perform bonded labor illegal. Those enforcing bonded labor can face criminal penalties.
Yet rights organizations say weak enforcement, poverty and workers’ dependence on employers have allowed the practice to continue, particularly in brick kilns and agriculture. Employers can control wage and debt records, making it difficult for poorly educated workers to determine whether alleged debts have been repaid.
Christians are especially vulnerable. International human rights reporting has found that Christians, lower-caste Hindus and impoverished Muslims are among those targeted for forced and bonded labor in Pakistan. Most bonded brick-kiln workers in the predominantly Muslim nation are Christians and Hindu Dalits, according to investigators.
The vulnerability is linked to poverty and the marginalized social position of Pakistan’s religious minorities, who often have limited access to better-paying employment and can become dependent on advances from kiln owners.
MILLIONS IN DEBT BONDAGE
A European Union assessment estimated that roughly 3 million people in Pakistan were living and working in debt bondage in 2023, particularly on farms in Sindh province and at brick kilns in Punjab.
The lawyer who helped the Masih family also alleged that religious prejudice played a role in their treatment.
However, family members interviewed in the video did not explicitly attribute the alleged beatings to their Christian faith.
Pastor Imran Amanat, head of advocacy group LEAD Ministries, said rescuing workers through court intervention alone may not provide lasting freedom if families remain impoverished, threatened and without stable employment.
FAMILY SEEKS LASTING FREEDOM
“The ultimate goal should be more than simply removing workers from a brick kiln,” Amanat stressed, urging long-term protection and economic support for survivors.
Neither the kiln operators accused by the family nor Pakistani authorities could immediately be reached by Worthy News for comment on the allegations.
The Masih family is appealing to authorities, including Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, for protection and justice.
For the family, their court-ordered freedom has not ended years of fear, and they say they now want protection from retaliation and an opportunity to rebuild their lives away from the kiln.
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