Feudalism Still Practised in Pakistan

What do 13th century France and modern-day Pakistan have in common?  Feudalism -- a system where a tiny minority of people own the vast majority of the land.  In medieval Europe, feudalism was one of the major reasons innovation came to a screeching halt for several hundred years and leeches were considered medicinal.  In modern-day Pakistan, feudalism is keeping men, women, and children in bonded labor across the country.

Here's how bonded labor in Pakistan works.  Let's say I'm part of the 10% of men (and they are almost all men) lucky enough to own 90% of land in Pakistan.  I need someone to harvest the crops on my land, so I go into a village and find a poor family with children.  I offer to take two of their sons to my farm, and feed and house the kids.  All the kids have to do is sign a contract to work off their room and board.  I'm not going to pay the kids, but I'll send the family a portion of my crops.  The kids sign, I take them to my farm, and I invent a massive debt their room and board is costing me that they can never pay off.  So, I get free labor for life and for only the cost of a tiny potion of my harvest.  The system is not very different from that of medieval Europe.

Previous efforts to address debt bondage and slavery in Pakistan have revolved around legal intervention, humanitarian efforts, and public education.  These are all great things, but the fact is that Pakistan is operating as a feudal society.  And in a feudal society, there are serfs, or as we now call them, bonded laborers.  But unlike 13th century France where almost all serfs were exploited in agriculture, Pakistanis are exploited in a number of industries, including brick kilns, carpet weaving, mining, glass-bangle manufacturing units, tanneries, domestic work and beggary.  It's a diversified portfolio of a feudal society, but its still the dark ages.

In order to address bonded labor in Pakistan, we need a new approach which takes into account the archaic systems Pakistan has long relied on.  Otherwise, Pakistan might never see its own Renaissance.

Photo credit: Little Farmer by Sparkle_lavalamp