In a deplorable incident, two minor girls escaped their torturous life of bonded labor in the posh area of Hayatabad (Peshawar) where they had been held captive by the landlord for doing house chores.

The two sisters, Sana (aged 12) and Asma (aged 8), escaped from the captivity of their landlord Habibullah, a native of district Mardan, and entered the neighboring Khyber Agency area where the local security staff took them in protection.

The girls had been kept in Habibullah’s house for the past 7 months after their father failed to return a loan of Rs. 12000 (equal to $150) that he owed Habibullah. The lender (Habibullah) and the borrower then agreed that the two girls would work at the landlord’s house in return for the loan. The girls thus became the slaves of Habibullah’s family and started living and working in his house. But they had become fed up with the torture inflicted on them in the landlord’s house and, finding a chance, fled the house.

The girls ran away to save their lives from the horrors of bonded labor and were spotted in the Khyber Agency by local security personnel. When taken in protection and asked about their situation, the girls kept crying for a long time, finally telling the officials about their father’s loan and their slavery at the landlord’s house.

The administration of the Khyber Agency summoned the father of the girls and the landlord to settle the matter by making the landlord realize that he had already received more than the fair level of labor from the children and hence the girls were thenceforth free to return to their own family.