From the Houston Chronicle: July 18, 1999; Pg. 27A

DEBT LEADS TO SLAVERY FOR WORKERS ON SEVERAL PAKISTANI PLANTATIONS

By Marion Lloyd

DUMBALO, Pakistan - Every night as he lay on his frayed straw cot, Chatan Bheel plotted his escape.

The plantation where he worked as a bonded laborer is a four-day walk from the nearest town and the sole road cutting through the fields was policed by gun-toting guards.

So when he saw a chance to make a break last year, while the field foreman slept after a heavy lunch, he took it. He set off on foot, dragging his leg irons through chest-high sugar cane until he found a blacksmith to cut him free.

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