A report by international daily claimed that the minority Christian community living in Islamic Republic of Pakistan are forced to do manual scavenging work. This was reported by The New York Times, reported OPIndia.
The news report accused that the members of minority Christian community are forced to the scavenging work in inhuman conditions. They have to clean clogged sewers without masks or gloves.It also claimed that there was a surge in the death of Christian sewer cleaners.
According to one estimate by the rights group, even though Christians constitute 1.6% of the population, they account for 80% sanitation workers. The rest 20% comprises of Dalits who constitute the overwhelming majority of Hindus in Pakistan. Illiteracy and lack of alternate sources of income have pushed these Pakistani minorities with no other options but to clean drains clogged with faeces and medical waste to earn living.
Earlier last year, the Pakistan army put out a bigoted advertisement , asking only Non-Muslims to apply for the post of sanitary workers.
Religious discrimination against minority communities- Christians, Sikhs and Hindus- is rampant in Pakistan. They were under constant threat of forced conversion. Minor girls from minority communities are abducted and then converted to Islam. The girls are then , married off to men much older in age. The local Imams issue a marriage certificate that is then used in police station and courts to claim that the girl has embraced Islam out of her will and can no longer be sent to her family.
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