June 25, 2010
The European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ) in Pakistan is representing a Christian family whose twelve-year-old son has been kidnapped and forced to work for over a year as an involuntary servant for a wealthy Muslim landlord and pressured to convert to Islam.
Katherine and Riaz Masih, a Christian married couple, have five children: Adnan (18), Sana (16), Danish (12), Kiran (8), and Nauman (7). The family lived in Pakistan in Ali Nagar, near Wazirabad, where the father, Riaz, worked as a farmhand for a Muslim landlord, Mohammad Ashraf. Riaz was underpaid and thus took out a loan from Ashraf.
The family moved frequently searching for employment in an effort to make enough money to provide for the family and the children’s education. They finally settled in Islamabad, Pakistan. Since the family still could not afford Adnan’s education, Adnan, the eldest son, returned to Ashraf’s estate to earn money to help his family. After six months, Adnan left Ashraf and returned to this family in Islamabad because Ashraf had not paid him and did not credit Adnan’s labor wages toward his father’s outstanding debt.
Soon after, Ashraf appeared at the Masihs' home in Islamabad and forcibly took Riaz and his twelve-year-old son, Danish, back to the estate in Ali Nagar. Riaz’s family contributed $542 toward the $1,711 remaining debt, but Ashraf demanded complete repayment in a lump sum. Ashraf forced Riaz and Danish to work as captive, involuntary servants (more accurately “slaves”) without pay. Riaz managed to escape, but could not rescue Danish, who has been held captive for over a year.
In May 2010, before seeking ECLJ’s counsel, Katherine’s brother Emmanuel enlisted the aid of a Pakistani NGO. The NGO officials were unsuccessful in their attempts to persuade Ashraf to release the boy. Ashraf still demanded full loan repayment in exchange for Danish. Other than the meeting with the NGO officials, Danish has not been allowed to communicate with his family in the last year. At the meeting, Danish informed his parents that Ashraf had been pressuring him to convert to Islam while in captivity.
On June 10, The ECLJ office in Pakistan filed a habeas corpus petition with a Sessions Court in Wazirabad. The Court appointed an official to recover the boy from Ashraf’s illegal custody. When the court official and the ECLJ team went to Ashraf’s estate to search for Danish, a crowd gathered, allowing Ashraf to hide Danish before the team could recover him.
We have filed another petition to bring formal charges against Muhammad Ashraf. Article 10 of the Pakistani constitution prohibits slavery and forced labor, which the Pakistani Penal Code punishes with imprisonment up to five years. However, forced or bonded labor is widely practiced throughout Pakistan.
We will keep you updated on this case and our efforts to reunite Danish with his family.
