ISLAMABAD, Aug 19: A family of 11 persons including four children and two women were recovered from a brick kiln on Friday by the capital police on the orders of the Supreme Court of Pakistan as the family was kept in forced detention by the owner for the bonded labour.

Nazeer Ahmed, in his application submitted in the Supreme Court, contented that he along with his family was detained by brick kiln owner Chaudhry Fazal in Tarlai area for forced labour. He sought apex court help for the recovery of his family.

Chief Justice of Pakistan ordered Inspector General of Police (IGP) Bani Amin Khan to recover the family and produce the family members in the court of district and sessions judge.

Following the SC orders, the IGP constituted a police team headed by Superintendent of Police (SP) Capt (retired) Mohammad Ilyas which raided the brick kiln located in Sodran area of Tarlai. During search, the raiding party spotted some rooms about half a kilometer away from the brick kiln which were later searched and the police party succeeded in recovering nine persons from one of the rooms.

The police team also arrested supervisor of the brick kiln Mr Javed and recovered a Kalashnikov and a 12-bore gun from him. Later, the recovered labourers and the arrested person along with the weapons were shifted to Koral police station for further legal action.

The police said that the labourer family hailed from Mandi Bhahuddin and received Rs200,000 from the owner Chaudhry Fazal to work at his brick kiln. They worked there for a year but about six months back they left the brick kiln. However, they returned a month ago and started working there while the owner demanded his money back.

Although the labourers were working under the watch of armed guards, no sign of illegal detention was found from the scene, the police said.

Talking to media one of the women said: “I have no idea what is happening here and why the police have raided and why we have been taken to the police station. Another woman said: “We have been living in the room for some time but have not been detained there by anyone.”

Out of the 11 recovered persons, seven were identified as Sakeena Bibi, Farzana Bibi, Aamir Ali, Ali Ahmed, Qasim Ali, Naseer Ahmed and Tanveer Ahmed.

IGP Bani Amin Khan and Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Tahir Alam Khan appreciated the police performance and announced cash prizes as well as commendation certificates for the police team.