Of the 15 or so girls sold that evening, only four were “untouched.” All were virgins, because, as Arbab said, “I only buy the best.” And he makes piles of money doing it. Though his agents will buy the girls for between $80 to $100 at the borders, the price at the auction was considerably higher. The 14-year-old was sold for 165,000 Pakistani rupees, or about $2750. I heard it whispered that the girl was going to Dubai (presumably to become a member of a harem). Others were not so lucky. Another girl, a tall 18-year-old virgin with long black hair and light eyes, was sold to a prostitution ring in Lahore. Though a virgin, she had been “touched,” and so sold for $2450. Although men at the auction ostensibly are paying for the right to marry the girls, few – if any – do. Most of the girls become prostitutes; the lucky become domestic help.
The case of boys is more straightforward. Since they are seen as a labor commodity, there is less mark-up involved. Most go straight from the borders to the factories. The smallest boys are sold to sheikhs in the United Arab Emirates to be used as camel jockeys. According to Arbab, the smaller boys are favored because they are light and their high-pitched screams make the camels go faster.
ECONOMISTS HAVE argued that cheap labor is good for the economy, and in fact the influx of Afghan workers into Peshawar has turned a once sleepy city into a bustling metropolis with increased property values. Over 70 percent of businesses are owned by Afghans who were wealthy enough to get out before the Taliban took over and to purchase fake Pakistani documents. The prosperous Afghans in Peshawar have no qualms about hiring their fellow countrymen as indentured servants.
Jabbar Nassery, a wealthy moneychanger in the Chowk Yadgar financial district, made over $150,000 last year – a stratospheric sum for Pakistan. When asked if he had any thoughts about moving to the West, he asks, why? “I have two brothers in England, one in France, and another in Germany,” he says. “They work from early morning until late night. They worry about expenses. I have a driver, a watchman, a cook, and a maid. How could I have that in the West?”
When asked if he thinks that that human labor is used efficiently, Nassery says, “These are poor people, and they need money. We have a duty to help them, and so we employ them – and we help them – giving them food and medication when they are sick. I gave money once so a daughter could get married.”
I mean, they’re already living a horrible life, is it really fair that they get punished in the afterlife for having sex??