New York Times highlights plight of Christian sewer workers in Pakistan
Due to widespread discrimination and religious intolerance, Pakistan’s Christian community is extremely over-represented in this downcast workforce. Christians make up between 80% to 90% of the sanitation workforce, including the country’s sewer workers, street sweepers, and janitors. Pakistani Christians represent less than 2% of the country’s overall population.
Earlier this week, the New York Times highlighted the plight of Christian sewer workers in Pakistan. Following a Christian named Jamshed Eric from Karachi, the New York Times illustrated the oppression and suffering these Christians experience on a daily basis.
In addition to being relegated to the lowest and filthiest positions in the workforce, there are many other unseen abuses suffered by these Christian sanitation workers.
The government has transferred much of the management of the sanitation workforce to private contractors. These contractors do not hire sanitation workers to permanent positions but offer temporary contacts that only guarantee work for several months. Salaries are meager. Safety equipment is not provided. And to top it off, the health of the sanitation workers is not considered.
“I get 15,000 rupees ($91.00) per month and work for 12 hours a day,” Perveen Bibi, a Christian sanitation worker, recently told ICC. “However, we don’t get salaries on a monthly basis. It depends on the officer’s mood. Sometimes he pays us after two months”
