LAHORE, Pakistan — A minority rights advocacy group has linked the recent deaths of sanitation workers in Pakistan to what it describes as systemic discrimination against Christians, who are disproportionately employed in high-risk sewer cleaning jobs.
In a statement issued on May 12, Minority Concern said Christian sanitation workers continue to face unsafe working conditions, inadequate protective equipment, and limited employment opportunities beyond sanitation work due to entrenched discrimination.
On May 7, Shabbir Masih, a 33-year-old father of three, died after inhaling toxic gases inside a 25-foot-deep sewer line in Faisalabad. Three days earlier, Shakeel Masih and Samar Masih died while cleaning a sewer line in Sahiwal district.
In April, three Christian sanitation workers also died in similar incidents in Karachi in the southern province of Sindh.
“Sanitary workers are indispensable members of society. No individual should risk their life simply for carrying out essential public service work,” said Aftab Alexander Mughal, director of Minority Concern.
“Protecting the rights and safety of Christian sanitary workers is not only a labor issue — it is a matter of human dignity, equality, and justice.”
Christians make up about 1.37% of Pakistanʼs population and have long complained of being pushed into low-paid sanitation work historically associated with marginalized castes in South Asia.
‘The death toll is higher than reported’
Speaking from Lahore, 49-year-old Catholic sanitation worker Shafiq Masih rejected official claims that proper personal protective equipment (PPE) is provided to workers.
“Each of the Water and Sanitation Authority field office responsible for sewer maintenance reportedly has only one PPE suit, shown only to visiting officials or media,” he told EWTN News.
“Even that imported suit from Japan is not suitable for local conditions — it is heavy and impractical. The death toll is higher than reported.”
Masih, who helped form a union of nearly 2,900 sanitation workers in Lahoreʼs Johar Town area in 2023, said little has changed in more than two decades of service.
“The Church has no concern for us,” he said, adding that he received assurance of only spiritual support when he raised the issue with his parish priest.
He also said that after Christian workers refused to enter manholes without PPE, authorities began hiring daily wage laborers to perform the same tasks.
Court rulings and government response
Rights groups such as Minority Concern have urged Pakistanʼs federal and provincial governments, municipal authorities, and employers to end discriminatory hiring practices that channel minorities into hazardous work.
In December 2025, the Islamabad High Court barred the use of the phrase “Christians only” in sanitation job advertisements and called for urgent safety reforms to reduce fatalities among sewer workers.
According to Manzoor Masih of the National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR), violations of the ruling have decreased.
“Concerned departments apologized and re-advertised after we notified the violations,” he said, expressing concern over the rising number of deaths.
He added that the commission has taken notice and sought reports from provincial Water and Sanitation Authority offices.
In November 2025, the NCHR filed a petition before the Federal Constitutional Court seeking an end to manual sewer cleaning, arguing that forcing workers into toxic environments without protection violates constitutional guarantees of life, dignity, equality, and safe working conditions.
A 2024 NCHR inquiry report titled “Risk of Sanitation Work in Pakistan” warned that sanitation workers continue to face deadly conditions due to the absence of occupational safety standards, weak enforcement of labor laws, and discrimination against religious minorities.
The report estimates that sanitation workers make up about 2% of Pakistanʼs 225 million population and that approximately 80% are Christians.
Based on a survey of 42 sanitation workers in Karachi, it found that 78.6% were never provided personal protective equipment, while 57.1% reported workplace injuries, including lung damage and dislocated joints.
It documented at least 14 deaths between 2022 and 2024, mostly in Punjab, caused by toxic sewer gases and unsafe working practices.
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