From that day forward, Iqbal became a “debt-bonded slave.” This transaction is called a paishgee, a loan, and it ended Iqbal’s childhood forever.

Little Iqbal would weave carpets until all the money, including an undisclosed amount of interest and expenses, was paid back. The uncle borrowed 600 rupees (approximately $12) from the contractor.

Iqbal, a scrappy four-year-old, was considered ready to work. In return, one of Saif’s children would go to work in this fast-growing business. The thekedar was willing, probably only too happy, to lend Saif money. Saif asked Iqbal’s uncle to contact the thekedar. Said Masih’s only valuable possessions were his children. In return for the loan, the employer expects collateral, a guarantee of something of value to secure the loan. In Muridke, many poor people simply borrow from a local thekedar, an employer who owns a nearby carpet factory. People such as Iqbal’s father are forced to turn to local moneylenders, local employers, or landlords to get the money they need. He could not apply to the government for aid because there were few programs to help poor people. Like most impoverished child slaves, Saif had never been able to save much. He knew that as father of the groom, he had to pay for part of the festivities, even though he had deserted his family. Wedding celebrations are often held even if a person is short of money or out of work. Weddings are very important to the people of Pakistan. The celebration would include feasting and processions. He spent his earliest years playing in the fields until he was ready to help his family by going to work.īy 1986 an older son of Saif Masih was about to get married. Very few poor children learnt to read and write. Education was not compulsory or widely available in Pakistan. While Iqbal’s mother worked, his older sisters took care of him and his older siblings. Sometime after Iqbal’s birth, Saif Masih deserted the family. In 1982 a baby boy was born to Inayat Bibi and Saif Masih. On 16 April 1995, at the age of 12, he was shot dead by the carpet mafia while cycling with his cousin in a village field. From that moment, he became an active campaigner against child slavery. Iqbal obtained a copy of their Charter of Freedom, a pamphlet about the rights of children. However, due to the exorbitant interest of the loan, the loan just got bigger and bigger.Īfter he turned 10, Iqbal heard a speaker from the Bonded Labour Liberation Front (BLLF), a Pakistani community-based organization dedicated to freeing children from such child slavery. The debt incurred by the loan required that Iqbal weave carpets 12 hours a day, receiving one rupee for a full days work. At 4 years of age Iqbal was sold by his father into bonded labour in a Pakistani carpet Factory in Punjab, in order to get his family a loan to pay for the wedding of Iqbal’s oldest brother.

The Curse of Iqbal by Robby Hamlin