For decades in Pakistan, those who perform the dirtiest and most dangerous work have been treated as though they are not quite equal citizens. The Islamabad High Court’s recent directives — ordering government departments to remove the discriminatory “Christians only” label from sweeper job advertisements and mandating safety measures for sewerage workers — are important and long overdue. But while welcome, these steps merely skim the surface of a much deeper injustice rooted in class, caste-like hierarchies, and religious discrimination that continues to shape how sanitation workers are viewed and treated.
Sanitation work in Pakistan — climbing into sewers, unclogging drains, and handling human waste with little or no protective equipment — is not something people choose out of ambition or preference. It is labour people are pushed into by poverty, exclusion, and entrenched social hierarchies. The overwhelming majority of sanitation workers belong to religious minorities or historically marginalised communities. That government departments could, until recently, openly advertise these jobs as being reserved for “Christians only” speaks volumes about how normalised such discrimination has become.
The court was right to describe this practice as a violation of equality and basic human dignity. Replacing overtly discriminatory language with the term “civilian” and directing authorities to provide protective gear are steps in the right direction. But they cannot be allowed to mark the end of the conversation. Year after year, the same grim scenes play out across the country: workers pulled lifeless from manholes, overcome by toxic gases, sent underground without masks, training, or safety equipment. These deaths are routinely described as “accidents,” when in fact they are entirely predictable outcomes of a system that has never valued working-class lives — particularly when those lives belong to communities long deemed expendable.
Changing the wording of job advertisements will not prevent these deaths. What is required is a fundamental rethinking of labour policy and a serious reckoning with the social hierarchies that assign dangerous, degrading work to specific groups. Sanitation labour must finally be recognised for what it is: essential and hazardous work that deserves fair wages, job security, healthcare, pensions, union rights, and enforceable safety protections. These rights must apply to all workers in the sector, whether permanent or contractual. The right to dignity at work cannot hinge on one’s employment status, identity card, or religious affiliation.
The government must now move beyond piecemeal compliance with court orders and enact comprehensive legislation. First, manual scavenging and unsafe entry into sewers must be outlawed outright — with real enforcement, not symbolic bans. Machines capable of performing this work already exist. Continuing to send human beings into lethal environments is a political choice, and an indefensible one. Second, all sanitation workers must be formalised as employees entitled to the full spectrum of labour rights. Third, safety standards must be mandatory and strictly enforced. Gas detectors, personal protective equipment, proper training, and emergency response mechanisms are not luxuries; they are the bare minimum.
Finally, discriminatory hiring practices must be dismantled in substance, not just language. Replacing “Christian only” with “citizen” is a beginning, but Pakistan must confront the deeper, caste-like logic that determines whose labour is exploited and whose lives are protected. No worker should have to approach the courts simply to avoid dying on the job. For a state that claims to value equality and justice, this really is the bare minimum.
Shafaqna Pakistan
pakistan.shafaqna.com
Note: Shafaqna do not endorse the views expressed in the article
