A BOY FROM PAKISTAN  …a world of compassion….

Sold into slave labour at 4. Escaped at 10. Addressed Stockholm conference at 11. Murdered at 12.

“A Boy from Pakistan” is the story of a boy hero who leads a rebellion of child slaves and starts a campaign against child labour. Sold into slavery, he wants to free the world. Based on a true story, this is a dramatisation based on known facts.

Iqbal Masih is sold into slavery in the carpet industry of Pakistan at 4 years old. After 6 years of captivity he manages to escape and find a public platform to speak out against child labour.

With the help of Dr Khan, a liberation charity worker, he is able to buy out his freedom. The story traces Iqbal’s campaign against child labour in parallel with his touching relationship with Dr Khan. Iqbal overcomes severe educational and physical deprivation to address an international labour conference in Stockholm and gets a resolution passed against child labour.

Returning to Pakistan, vested interests and pragmatic compromises threaten Iqbal’s quest for freedom. He goes undercover in a carpet factory to collect evidence of illegal practices. As Iqbal brings a case to close the factory down, he is forced to decide whether he can ever trust an adult again.

Iqbal’s achievement in freeing thousands of children is recognised by the Reebok Youth in Action award. He goes to Boston to accept the award and sets off a US kids campaign for fair trade rugs. He is offered a college place but insists on returning to Pakistan to continue the fight. On his return his 12 year old life is cut short by a shooting in circumstances which remain mysterious.  Did Iqbal pay the ultimate price in his quest for freedom?

© AJ Films 2008