Twin brothers Qaiser and Nadeem were sold into slavery to a feudal lord when they were five-years-old by their parents to pay for the wedding of their daughter. In Pakistan, parents absolutely must provide a dowry for the daughter’s wedding so this poor family had no other option.
The parents however were trying to buy their sons’ freedom back from the landlord and were paying the debt in installments, but because the twins were resold to three different landlords over the last 17 years, the debt was reset to its original amount by each successive landlord, irrespective of what the parents had paid to the previous one.
The last sale had been about two years ago to two landlord brothers. The parents contacted RAM and asked for help securing the freedom of their boys. We were able to arrange a donor for their debt.
At this point, the biggest issue was to locate the boys since there was no legal record of them: in the eyes of the law, the boys did not even exist as they had no birth certificate.
It took RAM’s team 10 days to locate the boys despite encountering fierce opposition from brick kiln owners who did not welcome any questioning. We had to travel to distant villages even at night, which was unsafe, but we had no other option.
Finally, we found the boys, but the landlords refused to hand over the boys until we paid the money. They threatened us by showing us their goons with guns and blunt weapons. Later on we learned that they had already been involved in several murder cases.
RAM was going to file a case to recover the twins, but the parents were very worried that the landlord would kill the whole family given that they knew their addresses. Further, a case would likely be unsuccessful given they had no legal existence. The only option left was to negotiate with the feudal lord.
After three meetings with the landlords, RAM finally was able to pay the debt and secure the release of the boys.
Their parents were quite happy to see their boys again and they thanked RAM for our assistance.
AMNA’S STORY | SCABIES FOR 16 MONTHS
Amna recently traveled about 18 miles with her children to come our medical Life Center. She told us that for 16 months she had suffered from scabies. Nothing had healed her. As a result, not even her own relatives would come to her house anymore. Her husband had died...
ULFAT’S STORY | POLICE TORTURE
The following is a report from our legal team that regularly deals with cases of injustice. Ulfat* is a single mother of six children. She has worked in Muslim houses for many years to look after her children. With tears in her eyes, she told us how many problems she...
HADIA’S STORY | BABY WITH PNEUMONIA
Hadia* is a 40-year-old refugee woman who we met through our staff that are working with refugees. Her 16-month-old boy was severely sick with a high grade fever. Our staff brought them to the Life Center medical clinic. Our doctor diagnosed the child with pneumonia...
