Curious_Guy
FULL MEMBER
- Joined
- Sep 27, 2015
- Messages
- 501
- Reaction score
- -1
- Country
- Location
Iqbal Masih :Unsung Hero
Iqbal Masih was born in 1983 in Muridke , Punjab ,Pakistan.
Iqbal became a debt slave at an early age, for the owner of a carpet factory .He was around 5 or 6 when he started working in the carpet factory. He worked from early morning until evening and was often treated badly. When his mother Anayat needed money for an operation, she took out a loan from a carpet factory owner. The loan, or ‘peshgi’, was in Iqbal’s name. That means that Iqbal owes Ghullah the 5000 rupees (100 US dollars) that his mother’s operation cost. Now Iqbal was a debt slave and the factory owner was in charge of his life.
Gullah, the factory owner , mistreated his child labourers . He use to beat them and wake them at midnight to start work in short conditions were very bad for these children . One day Iqbal had high fever but was asked to work when denied, was punished, that day he decided to run away from the factory .
In October 1992 he runs away with his fellows to a Bonded Labour Liberation Front (BLLF) run place , there they are given lecture by Ehsan ullah Khan , founder of BLLF Pakistan , he talks about slavery laws and gives Iqbal a “FREEDOM LETTER” on which laws and punishments about slavery are written and is encouraged to speak and motivate his fellow child workers .
Iqbal hands the letter to Gullah but he doesn’t give the letter any importance and refuses to let him go but Ehsan remembers the kid and atlast help him get the FREEDOM . Iqbal started attending BLLF school for slaved children . He also started speaking to slaved children and motivate them to break the shackles .Iqbal became a star for the workers and visits Sweden And then USA in 1994 where he received Reebok Youth in Action Award .
Iqbal returns to Pakistan and on Sunday April 16,1995 , he was murdered . In 2000 he received a posthumous World's Children's Prize for the Rights of the Children .
Today, Iqbal is a symbol for the fight against harmful child labour and slavery all over the world.
His legacy lives on, and United States Department of Labor has an annual award in his honour : The Iqbal Masih Award.
Sadly in his home country he is hardly known! Lets appreciate the strong little being who did more good in his short life than most of us have ever done.
Sources:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1024258877720529&set=gm.1474227875925106&type=3&theater
https://issuu.com/wcprc/docs/iqbalmasih?e=1438407/39057857
http://worldschildrensprize.org/iqbal-masih
https://www.dol.gov/ilab/issues/child-labor/iqbal/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iqbal_Masih
Iqbal Masih was born in 1983 in Muridke , Punjab ,Pakistan.
Iqbal became a debt slave at an early age, for the owner of a carpet factory .He was around 5 or 6 when he started working in the carpet factory. He worked from early morning until evening and was often treated badly. When his mother Anayat needed money for an operation, she took out a loan from a carpet factory owner. The loan, or ‘peshgi’, was in Iqbal’s name. That means that Iqbal owes Ghullah the 5000 rupees (100 US dollars) that his mother’s operation cost. Now Iqbal was a debt slave and the factory owner was in charge of his life.
Gullah, the factory owner , mistreated his child labourers . He use to beat them and wake them at midnight to start work in short conditions were very bad for these children . One day Iqbal had high fever but was asked to work when denied, was punished, that day he decided to run away from the factory .
In October 1992 he runs away with his fellows to a Bonded Labour Liberation Front (BLLF) run place , there they are given lecture by Ehsan ullah Khan , founder of BLLF Pakistan , he talks about slavery laws and gives Iqbal a “FREEDOM LETTER” on which laws and punishments about slavery are written and is encouraged to speak and motivate his fellow child workers .
Iqbal hands the letter to Gullah but he doesn’t give the letter any importance and refuses to let him go but Ehsan remembers the kid and atlast help him get the FREEDOM . Iqbal started attending BLLF school for slaved children . He also started speaking to slaved children and motivate them to break the shackles .Iqbal became a star for the workers and visits Sweden And then USA in 1994 where he received Reebok Youth in Action Award .
Iqbal returns to Pakistan and on Sunday April 16,1995 , he was murdered . In 2000 he received a posthumous World's Children's Prize for the Rights of the Children .
Today, Iqbal is a symbol for the fight against harmful child labour and slavery all over the world.
His legacy lives on, and United States Department of Labor has an annual award in his honour : The Iqbal Masih Award.
Sadly in his home country he is hardly known! Lets appreciate the strong little being who did more good in his short life than most of us have ever done.
Sources:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1024258877720529&set=gm.1474227875925106&type=3&theater
https://issuu.com/wcprc/docs/iqbalmasih?e=1438407/39057857
http://worldschildrensprize.org/iqbal-masih
https://www.dol.gov/ilab/issues/child-labor/iqbal/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iqbal_Masih
