Killed at Age 12 for Telling the World about 13M Child Slaves in Pakistan, Iqbal Masih
People in power are not afraid of anything more than a child who knows better. Pakistanis love to hate Malala Yousafzai instead of feeling proud of her. Our little hero was no different, except that he could not be saved.
Iqbal Masih was son of a poor Christian family living in the outskirts of Lahore. He was barely 6 or 7 when his father sold him to a carpet factory owner for 600 rupees in 1989 because he desperately needed money for Iqbal’s mother’s operation. It was around 12 dollars at that time. He and thousands of other children were kept chained for more than 12 hours, 7 days a week to weave carpets. Little fingers of the children are thought perfect to weave the intricate patterns of famous oriental carpets.
They were given very little food and were beaten badly if they got sick or accidentally dose off. According to Iqbal if a child was too sick to work at all then he was locked in a closet as punishment. His family was not able to pay the 600 rupees back for 5 years due to the interest rate piling up. And Iqbal kept working chained in the factory. He used to get beaten more than other children…
