[nukkad] Camel Boys of Dubai

["aryaone" <>]

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CAMEL BOYS OF DUBAI

Here an evil mix. Shaikhs race camels and vie for the prestigious first
place. Boys, often as young as 4 or 5, jockey the beasts. Because the
jockey's role is minimal, the child more or less is taught to stay in place
till the race is over. Often the child falls, is mauled, and ends up
crippled or dead.

Because Arab boys are blue blood and cannot be used to race, the stock has
to be imported from, where else, India and Pakistan. Which is not as
difficult as it sounds as children are routinely sold by bone poor parents
for anything from 250 to 3900 rupees to dalals for work in factories, homes,
building sites, begging, prostitution. If some can be sold overseas, hurray!
the profit is in multiples.

Everyone is in the game and culpable to the eyebrows but parsa and
sanctimonious to the gills. Local and regional cops, custom officials,
politicians, seths who finance and profit, the Arab sponsor's Indian or
Pakistani chamcha, all get in the act and make money and get to be in the
sponsor's good books, which translates to visas, dirhams or rials, gold
coins and a sinecure.

Herewith are three stories which are a small fraction of those which are not
reported or made to disappear. the excerpts are out of context but carry
import. For fuller data please see the web pages.

Story 1 -
Sale of boys as camel racing jockeys in UAE - reported by Ashok Tuteja
Nov 05, 2000 16:05 Hrs (IST)

Dubai: Despite a ban on the use of young boys as jockeys in camel racing ,
young children are still being brought into the United Arab Emirates (UAE)
by unscrupulous agents from the Indian sub-continent for this traditional
sport.

... Abu Dhabi police have rescued two Pakistani boys, who were kidnapped
from their home in Dera Ghazi Khan in North West Frontier Province (NWFP),
some three months ago.

The two boys--Shajar (six) and Shajawar (four)-- were brought illegally to
the UAE via Iran by two unscrupulous agents named Gul Ahmed and Sharo Mai on
forged passports and with false birth certificates. In the UAE, the two boys
were sold to a Pakistani agent for 20,000 dirhams (about Rs 2,40,000) each.

... Ansar Burney, a Pakistani lawyer and human rights activist, who runs the
trust, came to the UAE in search of the two boys.

... Burney,  ... we got in touch with the Pakistani Embassy, which was quick
to enlist the support of the UAE interior ministry ... Abu Dhabi police
responded positively by sending two CID Officers along with us to the camp.
The boys were handed over to us without further hassle by the camp
authorities ... He said Shajawar, the younger boy, was now bed-ridden as he
had suffered serious injuries in both his legs after a fall from a camel's
back.

Police have reportedly taken into custody a Pakistani expatriate for
questioning but the couple, who brought the two boys into UAE posing as
their parents, are absconding.

UNI - for moe details please visit
http://www.indiaabroaddaily.com/2000/11/05/camel.html

Story 2 -
And he died so young! By M. Zahidul Haque
Associate Professor, Ser-e-Bangla Agricultural University,
Dhaka

I am talking about that unfortunate Bangladeshi camel jockey Nazmul by name,
aged only seven who died recently at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mjjib Medical
University Hospital (BSMMUH). Nazmul had to work as a camel jockey in Dubai.
Camel race is played in Dubai in which a child is tied tightly on the back
of each camel for racing. Nazmul used to ride on camel's back everyday.
During camel race Nzmul feel down on the ground several times and sustained
injuries. He was often given painkiller but not enough water to evade the
side effects of the drug. He was also not given proper treatment. Soon he
became terribly sick as both of his kidneys were damaged. Nazmul was brought
back to Bangladesh and admitted to BSMMUH, But Nzamul died on April 11
despite all efforts by the physicians to save his life.

For more details please visit
http://www.nation-online.com/200104/27/n1042708.htm

Story 3 -
Kidnapped boy jockey is freed

A seven-year-old Bangla-deshi boy who was kidnapped to work as a camel
jockey in Dubai has been found and returned to his parents. Camel races are
immensely popular in the Gulf. Young boys ­ favored as jockeys because they
are light ­ are strapped to the backs of camels. Some trainers say they put
Velcro on the saddles and the boys’ trousers to keep them on the camels. The
United Arab Emirates banned the use of young boys as camel jockeys in 1993.
Such jockeys should reportedly weigh no less that 99 pounds. But the law
appears to be frequently violated. Small boys are still seen riding the
towering beasts in races broadcast on television. Bangladeshi Consul-General
Abdul-Fadhil Mohammad Golam Hussein said about six under-age Bangladeshi
boys have been found working as camel jockeys so far this year. They have
been repatriated.“These are usually poor, illiterate villagers from rural
areas in Bangladesh who are lured by promises of jobs here and a brighter
future,” Mr Hussein said.

For more details see http://www.irishnews.com/k_archive/250899/inbrief.html

So what can be done? Much.

Please await the next submission. let this one gel in.

Arya Ek.







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