Islamabad, Aug 4 A Christian sanitation worker has been fighting for his life after he was brutally attacked in Pakistan's Punjab by the locals, a leading minority rights group said on Monday.
Voice of Pakistan Minority (VOPM) mentioned that in Sadiqabad city of Punjab province, a Christian man, barely surviving on his daily labour, was struck with a brick to the head, "not for wrongdoing, but for daring to say no."
"He was simply doing his job -- cleaning the filth of a city that barely sees him as human -- when he was asked to remove personal trash from an influential local's property. When he refused, insisting it wasn't part of his duty, the retaliation was swift and brutal. His blood ran into the same streets he had helped keep clean," the rights body said.
It further mentioned that the worker is in critical condition in a local hospital, fighting for his life, while people are silent over the incident.
Terming the attack as a "cruel reminder" that their lives are still seen as "expendable," the sanitation workers under the 'Suthra Punjab' project in the province staged a peaceful sit-in protest against the attack, vowing not to pick up their tools until "generations of humiliation, degradation, and silence they've endured" is heard.
"Our community has been cleaning this city for generations. But we are treated like garbage. When we speak, they shut us up with bricks and threats," VOPM quoted one of the elderly workers as saying.
The rights group stated that the sanitation workforce in Pakistan -- largely drawn from the Christian minority -- is stuck in an "unending cycle of systemic abuse."
Sitting under the blazing sun, the workers asked, "How long must we clean your filth before you see our humanity?"
Raising concern, VOPM emphasised that "these workers crawl through sewage, sweep away disease, and breathe in rot. Yet, instead of gratitude, they are met with slurs, suspicion, and now, violence."
The LEAD Ministries Pakistan, a Christian advocacy group supporting the victim, stated that incidents like this occur with "chilling regularity," adding that most of the cases never make it to headlines or police records, but remain buried, like the "pain in the hearts of those who suffer them."
Founder of LEAD Ministries, Sardar Mushtaq Gill, called on the Pakistani government to act with prosecutions, instead of promises.
According to VOPM, the protest will continue until justice is served.
This attack adds to the atrocities and crimes committed against the minorities in Pakistan.
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