CLAD in filthy clothes with their identity cards hanging from their necks, dozens of Pakistani children who had been smuggled to the United Arab Emirates to work as camel race jockeys returned home yesterday.

The 86 children, aged between 4 and 12, had lived a life of virtual slavery for up to seven years, before being traced by welfare groups.

Some were so traumatised that they could not remember their names or where they were from. No relatives or guardians turned up at the airport in Lahore to welcome the long-lost children, who were repatriated under an agreement between the UN Children’s fund and the governments of Pakistan and the UAE.

Most of the children do not know who their parents are, and there is little hope of their ever being reunited.

Suleman, a six-year-old boy, said that he knew “nothing” about his father but he remembered his home town, Rahimyar Khan, in southern Punjab.

A senior Punjab government official said that the children would stay in a government shelter until their parents were traced. The Punjab provincial government has promised to help to rehabilitate the boys and educate them.

“We cannot return them the years they lost in a hostile environment. We promise we will do our best to make their futures better,” Faiza Asghar, a government official. said.

As many as 1,700 Pakistani children are believed to be working as camel jockeys in the Middle East. Hundreds of children are abducted by traffickers or sold voluntarily each year to camel racing syndicates in the UAE.

Poor parents from Pakistan’s most impoverished southern Punjab region are reported to have sold their children for £1,300 or more. The children smuggled into the UAE and trained to ride. The weight of the jockey is crucial to camel racing, so boys as young as two are considered to be most suitable. South Asian boys are favoured because they are cheap, weigh little and tend to scream loud ly, pushing camels to run much faster.

In 2002, Pakistan made smuggling children abroad for use as camel riders an offence punishable by up to ten years in prison, but the law is often flouted. Human rights groups say that the boys are kept in prison-like conditions where they are half starved to keep their weight down. The tiny riders are bound to a camel’s back, often with Velcro fastenings, as the animals race at speeds of up to 30mph. It is not uncommon for riders to fall from their camels and be dragged to their deaths.

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