Iqbal Masih, The Little Hero, was a little boy. However, what he did wasn’t little. Born in 1983 in Pakistan, Iqbal became a symbol of abusive child labor in this developing world. He was just four years old when his parents sold him for 600 rupees to a local employer, who owned some carpet weaving business.
Iqbal was forced to work 12 hours a day, seven days a week. He was not alone though, there were other children just like him, being abused and forced to work. The little hero tried to escape from the slavery, but police caught him and handed him back to his master. Iqbal tried to escape again and succeeded. He then joined Bonded Labour Liberation Front (BLLF) and with their help, little Iqbal helped 3000 other kids to break the chains of slavery.
Photo : Wikipedia |
Iqbal traveled the world and received several awards and much appreciation from organizations all over the world. But we lost him really soon. On April 16 1995, Iqbal was shot by Ashraf Hero, a heroin addict.
Read more about him here