Danish, an 11-year-old Christian boy in Pakistan, is increasingly weak from malnutrition and working almost as a slave for a Muslim landowner who kidnapped him and forced him to work off the family debt, his mother Katherine Bibi said. Landowner Ashraf Cheema of Dhonikay village in Wazirabad offered the boy better conditions and a possible cancellation of the debt if he converts to Islam.
Danish Masih works continuously from 04:00 to 23:00. He is often bound with iron chains and receives half a loaf of bread a day, according to the National Commission for Justice and Peace. Danish's father and older brother worked for Cheema to pay off a debt of 142,000 rupees (DKK 10,018), but the landowner has neither paid monthly wages nor paid off the debt, according to the Alliance of Minorities in Pakistan. Cheema has also extorted land worth 35,000 rupees (DKK 2,468) from Danish's older brother. Again without repaying the debt. He also stole his mother's dowry worth 200,000 rupees (DKK 14,102).
Cheema told Compass Direct news agency that no such boy works on his farm or fields. "Someone must have misled you."
