LAHORE: The All Punjab Brick Kiln Owners Association on Sunday announced holding a three-day strike in protest against the ongoing raids at their kilns over child labour.

They said that all the kilns of the province will remain closed from Monday to Wednesday (Jan 27).

“We are against the child labour as we have already told our kiln workers not to engage their children in labour. But the government officials are raiding our kilns and recovering kids from their parents’ houses built on the premises of kilns,” the association’s chairman Shoaib Khan Niazi told Dawn.

He said that after recovering kids (aged up to 14 years) from houses, the officials were defaming kiln owners, accusing them of being involved in child labour. The cases were being registered against the kiln owners under the Prohibition of Child Labour at Brick Kilns Ordinance 2016.

Protest is a reaction to ‘drive against child labour’

“On Jan 14, the ordinance was passed and on the very next day, the government directed district coordination officers (DCOs), capital city police officers (CCPOs) and district police officers (DPOs) to start raiding kilns without making rules and regulations that are mandatory to be framed before initiating any action,” Niazi added.

While criticising the manner in which raids were being carried out, he said the officials looked to be just doing this as formality. They were taking children (while they were staying home, sleeping or playing) into their custody and asking the parents to take them to nearby schools for admission. Soon after such raids, he added, they would arrest the kiln owners or their managers and shift them to police stations in a very disgusting manner.

“It is a non-bailable offence with the punishment up to six months imprisonment or Rs500,000 fine or both. When we are not involved in getting labour from kids why we are we being punished?” he asked.

He said the kiln owners association had earlier told the government to start paying a handsome monthly stipend to the parents first and then start raiding the kilns to end child labour but it didn’t do anything to develop a proper system.

“Since the announcement of the government to award stipend to the parents and their kids for education is limited to paper work alone, the officials raid kilns and ask parents to take their kids to schools. But when they contact heads of schools, they refuse to admit them because of several formalities such as age limit, B-form, birth record, CNIC, etc. So the kids again return to their houses built on kilns premises,” Shoaib Khan Niazi said.

He added the association had also suggested to the government to set up small schools on kilns’ premises or near them, offering land free of cost for the purpose. But the government didn’t do this and started taking action in a hurried manner without devising any system, he said, urging the officials not to defame the country on the pretext of child labour.

Mr Niazi also demanded the government consult the kiln owners’ representatives on the ordinance.

“In case the government doesn’t hear and accept our demands, we may extend the strike for an unlimited period after Wednesday,” he warned.

The kiln owners association’s office-bearers reportedly held a press conference on the issue.

Published in Dawn, January 25th, 2016