Iqbal Masih

Iqbal Masih was born on 1 January 1983 in Muridke, Punjab, Pakistan, to a poor Punjabi Catholic family. His father, Saif Masih, worked as a labourer; his mother, Inayat Bibi, cleaned houses. Saif later abandoned the family, leaving Inayat and Iqbal’s older sisters to care for him and his siblings. In 1986, Saif wanted to marry off one of his sons but had no savings. Banks would not lend, and government aid was scarce. He borrowed 600 rupees from a carpet factory owner, using his children as collateral. The loan was to be repaid through four-year-old Iqbal’s labour, under a system called peshgi, which included undisclosed interest and expenses. Because selling children was illegal, the deal was informal, letting the lender add arbitrary costs. These costs covered a year of unpaid training, tools, food, and fines for mistakes. Iqbal was paid one rupee per day. By the time he escaped, the loan had grown to 13,000 rupees due to high interest. At the carpet factory, Iqbal was chained to a loom and worked up to 14 hours a day. He was fed little and beaten more than other children because he tried to escape and refused to work. The conditions stunted his growth; at age 12, he had the height and weight of a six-year-old. American professor C. Christine Fair noted that large numbers of Christians in Punjab and Sindh are trapped in bonded labour in brick kilns and carpet-weaving, with around 80% of brick kiln workers in some areas being Christians paying off debts long since paid, but remaining illiterate and powerless.

At age 10, Iqbal learned that the Supreme Court of Pakistan had declared bonded labour illegal. He escaped and tried to report his employer, Ashad, to the police, but the police returned him to the factory to claim a finder’s fee. He escaped a second time and enrolled in a Bonded Labour Liberation Front (BLLF) school for former child slaves, completing a four-year education in two years. He helped over 3,000 Pakistani children escape bonded labour and spoke about child labour around the world. He wanted to become a lawyer to free more bonded labourers. He visited Sweden and the United States to share his story. In 1994, he received the Reebok Human Rights Award in Boston. In his acceptance speech, he said he was one of millions of suffering children in Pakistan, but lucky to be free thanks to the BLLF, and that Ehsan Ullah Khan and the BLLF had done f