Pakistan: Church protests
discriminatory job advertisement
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| Pakistani Christians in front of the Mary Immaculate Church, Lahore (AFP) |
Pakistani Church authorities express their objection over a
job advert in local dailies offering cleaning jobs exclusively to non-Muslims.
By Vatican News
Church authorities have voiced their disapproval with
Pakistan’s Sindh government over the publication of a job advertisement
considered to be discriminatory towards minorities.
The state-run Municipal Corporation (West) Karachi, on 1
June, announced 28 job vacancies of different categories in local newspapers.
However, it reserved sanitary jobs exclusively for non-Muslims.
Reacting to this, the vicar general of Karachi Archdiocese
and director of its National Commission for Justice and Peace, Father Saleh
Diego met with the government’s representative on minority affairs, Naveed
Anthony, to express objections and request the lawmaker to look into the
matter.
Not the first time
“This is not the first time that government advertisements
have hurt the sentiments of religious minorities. It is totally unacceptable,”
Father Diego said.
In June 2019, a similar advert by the Pakistani army drew
reactions from Christian activists for being discriminatory towards the
minority community. The advertisement was later withdrawn by the army.
“We have repeatedly appealed to government officials to put
an end to the culture of placing advertisements that further stigmatize
marginalized minorities. The Sindh government must take note of the ad and take
action against those who are involved in it,” Father Diego stated.
Job situation of minorities
Pakistan’s Christian minorities make up 80 percent of the
country’s sanitation workforce, according to a study by Open Doors USA. This is
despite the fact that they make up 1.6 percent of Pakistan’s total population.
For example, in 2015, Lahore Waste Management Company alone
employed 7,894 sewer sweepers, the majority of them Christians. The same study
also cites the Capital Development Authority employing 1,500 sweepers for
Islamabad, all of them Christians.
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