Rauf vows drive against bonded labour

AA Khan
HYDERABAD, February 02 2006: Sindh Home Minister Abdul Rauf Siddiqui has said that a campaign to emancipate around two million bonded labourers would continue unabated in the province and directives in this regard have been issued to the police.

His comments came in a sharp contrast to the remarks of the chief minister that bonded labour does not exist in the province.

Talking to newsmen at the Circuit House where he also chaired a meeting regarding law and order during the month of Muharram, Siddiqui said there were about two million bonded labourers in Sindh and the police had liberated some families from the private jails of landlords. The drive would continue until all bonded labourers were freed, he vowed.

“I would deploy the whole force of Sindh police to recover any person kidnapped, including the family of Munoo Bheel,” the minister said.

The minister dispelled the impression that the police didn’t take interest in the recovery of poor people from the interior of Sindh and assured that the Police department would never discriminate between urban and rural population.

He said the Rangers would continue to perform their duties in the province until there was a need. “The Sindh police have a shortage of 20,000 personnel,” he said, adding, “Until this shortage is met the Rangers will continue to support the police.”
Source: The News
Date:2/2/2006