Tag: Sweepers

Pakistan sewage workers’ widows pressured to drop criminal negligence cases

November 22, 2021 Pakistan discrimination, Human rights, legal, Minorities, Pakistan, Sweepers

Mariam, widow of sewer cleaner Nadeem Masih, Oct 4, 2021

“I so wish wish I hadn’t pushed him to go that night”…. Widow Mariam Bibi, mother of six at the age of 32, desperately wishes she could turn the clock back. “It was about 10pm on Sunday night and we were preparing for bed, so [my husband] Nadeem didn’t want . . . Read More

‘Untouchable’ caste identity haunts Pakistani Christians like Asia Bibi

November 1, 2018 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Caste, Gilgit, Hyderabad, Islamabad, Karachi, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Lahore, Minorities, Muzaffarabad, Pakistan, Peshawar, Punjab, Quetta, Sindh, Sweepers

Asia Bibi was on death row for blasphemy, after offering drinking water which she, as a Christian, was considered to have made “unclean” by her touch. She got into an argument over this. Many Pakistani Christians – who are about 2% of the population – are children of converts to . . . Read More

Two Pakistani Christian sewerage workers die from poisonous gases

May 29, 2018 Pakistan Caste, Karachi, Minorities, Pakistan, Punjab, Sweepers

As Pakistani Christians comprise more than 80 per cent of the country's sewerage and street cleaning force, they run a higher risk of work related injuries, sometimes causing death. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Two more Christian sewerage workers have died in Pakistan while opening a clogged sewerage line without protective gear. Data collected by World Watch Monitor in 2013 showed that, despite Pakistani Christians comprising only 1.5 per cent of the population, they account for more than 80 per cent of the sewerage . . . Read More

Asia Bibi central to trade deals, EU tells Pakistan

February 16, 2018 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Balochistan, Blasphemy, Education, Europe, Islamic extremism, Pakistan, Punjab, Rawalpindi, Sweepers

The EU’s Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief, Jan Figeľ, told Pakistani officials during a recent visit that the renewal of their export privileges to Europe depends on the release of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman on death row for blasphemy since 2010. “The EU countries have started . . . Read More

Pakistan: Christian cleaner dies at work, leaving wife and two children

January 25, 2018 Pakistan Caste, Gujranwala, Karachi, Minorities, Pakistan, Pakistan Peoples Party, Punjab, Sindh, Sweepers

A Pakistani Christian, who fell ill after inhaling poisonous gasses at work, died on Saturday (20 January) after three days on a life-support machine. Shahzad Masih, 24, who leaves a wife and two young children, worked as a sewer cleaner in the Korangi area of the southern city of Karachi, . . . Read More

UK Parliament hears ‘squeeze’ of persecution of Christians ‘as dangerous as violence’

January 18, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Blasphemy, Children, Commonwealth, Egypt, India, London, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Religious freedom, Sweepers, UK, Women, Youth

Christian women are particularly vulnerable because of their gender and their faith. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Most of the 200 million Christians globally under pressure for their faith don’t experience violence but a ‘daily squeeze’ which is more insidious and – if left unchallenged – can lead to violence, MPs and others heard yesterday (17 January) at the launch of Open Doors’ World Watch List 2018 . . . Read More

India: Victorious Dalit activist shows increased opposition to BJP

December 21, 2017 BJP, Dalits, Gujarat, India, Pakistan, Ram Nath Kovind, Sweepers

The governing BJP under Prime Minister Modi’s leadership won elections in his home state Gujarat but opposition is growing. (Photo: SAM PANTHAKY/AFP/Getty Images)

Although India’s ruling party won last week’s elections in the western-most state of Gujarat, opposition is growing, becoming apparent in the win of an activist, Jignesh Mevani, who has been campaigning for land rights for the lowest Dalit caste (which means ‘broken’ or ‘oppressed’). Dalits account for two-thirds of India’s . . . Read More

Pakistani sewage worker dies after 3 doctors on Ramadan fast refuse to touch him

June 5, 2017 Pakistan Caste, Ramadan, Sindh, Sweepers

A Pakistani Christian sewerage cleaner has died after three doctors refused to treat him till his sludge-covered body had been washed; they said their Ramadan fast would be invalid (“makruh”) because he was “unclean” and also belonged to a low caste. (The word for low caste, “chuhra”, especially derogatory, is . . . Read More

Pakistani boy refused bail in Kaaba ‘blasphemy’ case

February 13, 2017 Pakistan Blasphemy, Islamic extremism, Kasur, Lahore, Nabeel Masih, Nadeem Masih, Sweepers

UPDATE (13 Feb, 2017): A Pakistani Christian boy accused of blasphemy for “liking” and “sharing” a Facebook post which “defamed and disrespected” the Kaaba in Mecca – the building at the centre of Islam’s most sacred mosque – has been refused bail. Lawyers for Nabeel Masih, 16, argued that he . . . Read More

Pakistan court acquits all suspects in 2013 arson of Christian neighbourhood

January 31, 2017 Pakistan Blasphemy, Gojra, Joseph Colony, Lahore, Punjab, Sawan Masih, Sweepers

A Pakistani anti-terrorism court on Saturday (28 Jan) acquitted every one of the more than 100 suspects accused of ransacking, looting and then burning a Christian neighbourhood in Lahore in March 2013. Pakistani Christians gather outside the Joseph Colony in Lahore on 10 March 2013, the day after more than . . . Read More

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