Islamabad: A new report by Amnesty International has exposed Pakistan's deep-rooted caste and religion- based discrimination against sanitation workers, revealing a system designed to exploit some of the country's most marginalised communities while denying them basic labour rights and human dignity.
Titled "Cut Us Open and See That We Bleed Like Them", the Amnesty report documents how sanitation workers, predominantly Christians and Hindus from so-called "lower castes," are confined to hazardous, low-paid work through discriminatory recruitment, dangerous conditions, and systemic neglect. The report, compiled with the Pakistani rights group Center for Law & Justice, draws on testimonies from over 230 workers across Lahore, Bahawalpur, Karachi, Umerkot, Islamabad and Peshawar. According to Amnesty, 55% of respondents said their caste or religion dictated hiring decisions. One man from Bahawalpur recalled applying for an electrician's post, only to be offered sanitation work once recruiters learned he was Christian. "Once they know you are Christian, the only work they offer is sanitation," he said.
The stigma runs deep. Amnesty found that nearly half of the workers surveyed had been called derogatory slurs such as "chuhra" and "bhangi," and many reported being segregated in public spaces, including being denied shared utensils. Women workers faced additional gender-based discrimination, with Christian women disproportionately assigned the "dirtiest" tasks. The exploitation is compounded by job insecurity. Only 44% of sanitation workers had permanent contracts, while 45% had none at all, allowing municipal authorities to deny benefits and evade labour law obligations. In Umerkot, one worker told Amnesty he had spent 18 years on daily wages without regularisation.