Asia-Pacific, Development & Aid, Education, Headlines, Human Rights

PAKISTAN: War Breeds Child Workers

Ashfaq Yusufzai

PESHAWAR, Jul 5 2011 (IPS) - He should be inside a classroom but instead Jawad Ali spends his days selling sandals on the sidewalks of Khyber Bazaar in the city of Peshawar in northwest Pakistan. “I want to be in school, but it’s not possible now,” said 11-year-old Ali.

Ali has to work to help feed the 10 members of his family who, two years ago, fled their village in Bajaur, one of the seven tribal areas in violence-ridden northwest Pakistan. The last time he was in school he was in second grade, Ali told IPS.

Had they stayed in Bajaur, his family would still have had difficulty sending Ali and his siblings to school. But now things are worse, and the chances of Ali’s getting an education are becoming more remote.

Ali is one of thousands of children from Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA) who are all over the neighbouring province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, shining shoes, selling fruits and vegetables, and working in hotels and automobile workshops. Driven from their homes by the war between the Pakistan army and militants in the FATA, their families now find themselves with little income and no homes, and the children taking up the burden of supporting the family.

Ali’s family used to live in a mud house in Bajaur, until it was destroyed in a military operation. He laments he has no chance of returning to his hometown in the foreseeable future.

Families like Ali’s now have to pay rent and shell out more money for daily expenses in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where the cost of living is higher.

“My three children were in school but now they all work because we are now in Peshawar and we are required to pay for the house where we live,” said Muhammad Jamal, who came from Mohmand Agency. Jamal’s family fled their hometown due to terrorist incidents and military operations, and moved to Peshawar in August 2009.

Back home, Jamal said, he worked on his farm and could easily afford his children’s school expenses. But now he has no permanent job and the routine expenditures have also increased. Now, he said, his family has to purchase everything from the bazaar.

“The major portion of my earnings goes to utility bills and rent for our two-room house,” said Jamal.

Akhunzada Chattan, a lawmaker from the FATA, told IPS that military operations have hit children the hardest. “They should be in school but now they are doing odd jobs to feed their families. It is the responsibility of the international community to help these children,” he said.

Help is coming in the form of housing townships for displaced FATA residents and students. “Thousands of students are away from their studies as most of the schools were closed or destroyed. In such a situation, it is impossible for the students to continue their education,” Chattan said.

Many of the children are pessimistic and uncertain about the future. Thirteen-year-old Abdul Jabbar wanted to become a military officer after completing his education, but now that hope has been dashed.

“I was the most brilliant student in my school. I had never thought that I would quit,” said the disgruntled Jabbar, who was a sixth grade student in the Safi area of Mohmand Agency.

“A majority of the kids from the troubled area have opted to start small businesses, like shoe-polishing or selling vegetables, which does not need investment,” said Javid Alam of the International Labour Organisation. Of the FATA’s population of five million, 17 percent are children, Alam said.

“Of the 17 percent, about 10 per cent are facing displacement from their homes due to terrorism,” he added. The ILO is implementing some projects to help these displaced children get an education. “Without education, we fear these kids will become monsters,” he said, referring to the possibility they could end up being militants or terrorists.

FATA, which lies between Afghanistan and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, was a safe place before 2001 when forces led by the U.S. invaded Afghanistan and ousted the Taliban government. The fleeing Taliban then crossed over to Pakistan and sought refuge in the FATA.

Towards the end of 2004, the Pakistan army began operations against the militants, forcing thousands of families to flee toward relatively safer places in nearby Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

In Peshawar Saddar, the centre of the city, young Ahmed Ali serves glasses of juice to customers at a kiosk. “I earn two dollars everyday and give it to my parents. I work from dawn to dusk,” said Ali, who was a fifth grade student back home in Orakzai Agency.

Ali’s fellow worker is Janbaz Omar, who is in Peshawar for similar reasons. “I was studying in a state- run school when the military began action against Taliban and we were forced to leave for Peshawar. Now we are resigned to our fate,” Omar told IPS. He said most of his relatives had already said goodbye to schools due to the lawlessness in their areas and are now busy earning a living in different cities all over the country. Not all children work in the safety of restaurants or sidewalks, though. Some, like the sisters Shaheena and Jabeena, aged 10 and eight respectively, dig through the garbage heaps every morning and scavenge for anything to eat or sell.

“We come here to find something edible and saleable. It is a very hard job to do but what will we eat if we don’t do this?” Shaheena told IPS. She said their father and brother also work in Peshawar but their income is too small to cover expenses.

The girls said they were third and fourth grade students before coming to Peshawar in May last year. “Our school and homes have been destroyed by the Taliban,” said Shaheena, whose family fled Orakzai Agency.