“All citizens, officers, and employees of the Municipal Committee of Attock are informed that from now onwards sanitary workers will not be called by the word chuhra,” Malik Rahir Awan, Vice-Chairman of the Municipal Committee of Attock said in a December 10 notification. “Legal action will be taken against violators. Officers should not only respect their subordinates, but also sensitize them to give importance and respect to the general public.”

This is due to extreme levels of discrimination in Pakistan where Christians are intentionally hired for sanitation jobs due to an association between their faith identity and perceptions of spiritual purity.

The term chuhra is an abusive term, historically reserved for sanitation workers. The term refers to an individual’s heritage as a member of a low caste community associated with the profession of street sweeping, a profession considered spiritually impure.

Because many members of this low caste community converted to Christianity, an association between being Christian and low caste was formed. Presently, the term chuhra is sed as a derogatory slur against all Christians, regardless of their profession.

In 2018, minority members of the Punjab Assembly held an emergency press conference after Arif Abbasi, a Muslim lawmaker, called a Christian parliamentarian a chuhra during a heated debate.

Source: persecution.org