Adil Masih: I, a chained and starving Christian. A modern-day slave in a furnace

AsiaNews reports the heart-wrenching story of survival and the struggle for freedom of a young father of two. For months, the factory owner kept him in conditions of slavery to exploit his labour without paying his wages. Freed thanks to the intervention of an NGO and a court ruling. Azhar Saeed: this is not an isolated tragedy, but part of a much wider injustice.

Raiwind (AsiaNews) - For months in Pakistan, a poor Christian family of humble origins endured a pain no parent should ever have to bear: not knowing whether their son was alive, dead, or still suffering in silence somewhere. That son was Adil Masih, a 22-year-old labourer who, eight months ago, had gone to work in a brick kiln to earn an honest living and support his family. However, the young Christian found himself trapped in what can be described as a form of ‘modern slavery’. Adil is the father of two children, a four-year-old girl and a baby boy just two weeks old, born whilst he was still in the hands of his tormentors.

Adil had worked for six months loading bricks at Khalid Gujjar’s kiln in Raiwind, Lahore, but the owner had never paid him his wages. When he finally asked for the money to buy food for his family, he was summoned by the owner and trapped through deception. Instead of receiving his pay, he was locked up. “I was taken and held in a room like a prison,” he told AsiaNews after his release. “There was no light, no fan, no proper ventilation, not even a light bulb. I was kept there for four months.”

The young man went on to say that he was fed only once a day: a piece of bread, chopped chilli and water. Sometimes he was not even given enough to drink. And when he asked for it, they would throw it on the floor instead of handing it to him in a glass. The room was not just a place of confinement, but also of humiliation and suffering. There were other people there too, all trapped in similar misery. Every morning, Adil and the others were taken outside under guard and forced to work so that they could not escape. He said they were not allowed to speak to anyone. At night, chains were placed on their hands and feet. “The marks,” he confessed, “from the chains are still visible on my body.”

His suffering was exacerbated by his poor health, as Adil has only one functioning kidney. In such conditions, without food, water or adequate medical care, every passing day put his life at risk. Nevertheless, physical suffering was not the only pain he had to endure. Adil recounted that whenever he tried to pray or make the sign of the cross, he was beaten and abused. His Christian faith was insulted and mocked. Yet, even in that darkness, he continued to pray.

His father, Ashraf, explained that the family was now desperate. They are poor, living in rented accommodation, and their children have been denied an education. The family’s other children work as labourers just to help support the family. Then came another cruel blow: the owner of the brick kiln reportedly demanded 350,000 rupees (around 1,070 euros) for Adil’s release, a sum impossible for a struggling Christian family, already trapped in poverty, to pay. Ashraf recounted that there had come a point when he had almost lost hope. And the family’s pain had been compounded by a heart-wrenching reality: whilst their son was being held captive, a new baby had been born into the family.

Everything began to change when the family turned to The Edge Foundation and its team of lawyers for help. Following legal action and police intervention, Adil was finally found last week and brought before the court. The judge then ordered that he be returned to his father. That moment was not merely a legal victory: it marked the return of a life, of a son, and of a father’s hope. After his release, the young man and his father visited the office to express their gratitude. Their relief was mixed with pain, shock and disbelief at what they had had to endure.

Adil speaks not with bitterness, but with extraordinary dignity. “I forgive those who hurt me,” he emphasised. “I pray that God,” he added, “will guide them and that such things never happen to anyone again.” He also made a heartfelt appeal to those present. “In future, I will never work in a brick kiln again. Even if I have to eat just half a roti (bread), I will never work,” he continued, addressing those gathered, “in a brick kiln. It is a sugar-coated form of slavery.” Now free, Adil desires something simple yet profound: a different future. He wants to stay away from kiln work, rebuild his life, educate his children and earn a living with dignity. As a semi-skilled motorcycle mechanic, there is hope that, with the right support, he can start afresh.

Commenting on the case, Malik Azhar Saeed, co-chair of the Edge Foundation, stated that Adil’s story is not an isolated tragedy, but part of a much wider injustice. “Adil Masih’s case,” he emphasised to AsiaNews, “is a painful reminder that modern slavery still exists in Pakistan.” “Behind the walls of many brick kilns,” he continued, “lie stories of hunger, chains, fear and exploitation. The most vulnerable are trapped by poverty, powerlessness and the influence of the owners. Many of the victims come from the Christian community, which remains particularly vulnerable within this system of exploitation.” Adil’s freedom is a moment of joy, but it is also an indictment. It lays bare a system in which poor Christian workers can still disappear behind the walls of the kilns, where unpaid wages turn into imprisonment and where poverty is cruelly exploited.