Nasreen belongs to Lahore.   Her father works as a sweeper in an office and her real mother Bibi Amina passed away when Nasreen was a child.  After the death of her mother, her father remarried. They are 10 sisters and 1 brother. Her step mother does not work anywhere. Nasreen does not know her home address, only she knows that they were living at a Shadi Hall. She was brought to the Child Protection Welfare Bureau (CPWB) office on 18th August 2006. Since then, none of her family members have approached her. Many times CPWB has given advertisements in newspapers with her photo. She wishes to go back home.

My scars speak more than I!

Nasreen narrated, “My father brought me to the house for work by force. I worked as domestic labor almost for one year. All family members of the employer were treating me very badly.  Every day, I used to work from morning to evening.  Te entire family used to abuse me and thrashed me for little mistakes.  They used to torture me with knives as you can see scars on my body and even on my face. ”

Was I alive?

Nasreen claimed that she was deprived of food. She said “If I asked for food, they used to beat me. Auntie Attiya who was living next door used to provide me food some time on my request. I had been sleeping in the bathroom without bedding. One night when I was lying on the floor, I thought there is nothing for me in this world neither beauty of life, the colors of this world, nor even my parents. My tears were on the edge of my eyes and I was totally alone. Therefore, I wished to die. My father used to come every month to get my salary.  I was crying all the time in-front of my father and begging him to take me back home but my screaming was being muffled”

My duties as a CDL

“I used to work like a machine,  washing utensils, clothes and sweeping.  I don’t know how much they were paying to my father for my services”

A turning point:

“One day our neighbor Attiya Auntie, after hearing my screams came and picked me up and brought me to the Child Protection Welfare Bureau’s Office, Lahore. CPWB team brought me to the Female Branch of CPWB at Montgomery Road. I was afterwards taken to the court by CPWB team. I was also taken for medication to hospital. I am very happily living in the female branch I do here what I want to; I eat properly and play with other children and watch TV. I have also a chance here to read and write.” 

A strong desire

“I want to become a Doctor in the future. I would love to visit my family and stay at home with my brothers and sisters. I will be grateful if some one takes me to my home.”

 (Real name has been changed to ensure dignity and identity of the child… Face is also blurred to ensure that the convention is maintained)

ITA is keen to launch a serious research study into three or four clusters beginning from Punjab, on tracking recruitment processes of CDL from specific villages/communities known for this export of children to households, as an economic transaction with high human rights abuses.  Elsewhere ITA has designed a continuum of CDL and violence against children as a concurrent phenomenon (www.itacec.org).  The framework thus developed will be elaborated and corroborated through evidence based work from the proposed research.  Partners from the Child Rights Support Group and other organizations are welcome to support and join the research. Two researchers have been earmarked for this task. Ms. Saima Hasrat one of the proposed researchers from ITA has profiled this case study.      

Formal permission was requested from Child Protection Welfare Bureau (CPWB), a questionnaire was sent in advance and all protocols followed as demanded by CPWB in the best interest of the child.