ISLAMABAD – The Supreme Court was informed on Thursday that the government had disbursed $1,000 as compensation to each affected family of the children used as camel jockeys in United Arab Emirates (UAE).
A three-member bench of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Ghulam Rabbani and Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday disposed of the suo motu case with an appreciation for the federal government as well as interior ministry for disbursing 769 cheques worth $1,000 to each affected family. The Interior Ministry Joint Secretary Shabbir Ahmad informed the court that interior ministry had received 810 cheques out of which it had disbursed 769 cheques to the affected families.
He said the ministry had tried its best to trace the remaining affected families for paying the compensation money but in vain. The UAE government provided $1.14 million to the government of Pakistan after a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed in 2009 for distributing money among the families of the children used as camel jockeys in UAE. Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had taken suo motu notice of the matter following an application submitted by one Tahir Ali. According to the application, the UAE government had to pay around $1.4 million as damages for illegal smuggling of Pakistani children and using them in camel races. According to the estimates, 12,000 Pakistani children were smuggled from the country to the Middle East.
In 2005, the government of UAE imposed a ban on the use of children in camel racing which caused the return of 3,000 children to the country.
