DefinePK

Abstract

The paper examines child labour as a resettlement issue in Shaukat Siddiqui’s God’s Own Land (Khuda Ki Basti). It examines how, following the 1947 Partition, pervasive poverty and displacement forced families to enlist their children in labour across several sectors, including factories, workshops, and home-based enterprises. The novel depicts child labour as a severe yet essential way of survival for communities endeavouring to rebuild their lives in newly established Pakistan. Considering New Historicism as a theoretical framework to analyze the influence of historical, socio-political, and economic influences on the normalization of child exploitation in the chosen text. The findings suggest that child labour in this environment is not merely a familial choice but a manifestation of wider systemic failure, encompassing inefficient governmental policies, imbalanced distribution of economic resources, and the absence of accessible education. The study also uncovers the enduring repercussions of this exploitation, especially its contribution to driving youngsters into cycles of marginalization and criminality. The study advises state institutions and communities to implement significant measures to eliminate child labour, highlighting education as a crucial instrument for prevention. It concludes by framing child labour not as an isolated social ill, but as a structural problem deeply embedded within the socio-economic dynamics of post-Partition resettlement.