Islamabad, Pakistan: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has delivered a significant judgment addressing discrimination against minorities in employment practices and ensuring enhanced safety protocols for sanitation workers across the country. The ruling comes in response to writ petitions filed by Advocate Muhammad Majid Bashir.In one petition, the court was informed that many government and non-government institutions routinely advertised janitorial positions as “Christians only,” a practice the petitioner argued violated Articles 25, 27, and 31 of the Constitution of Pakistan and constituted a degrading form of discrimination.
The second petition highlighted the serious and recurring fatalities among Christian sanitation workers, who are often required to clean manholes and gutters without protective gear, resulting in deaths from methane gas inhalation.Advocate Bashir urged the court to prohibit religious discrimination in hiring and advertising for janitorial roles by using the term “Christian” is discriminatory and to mandate the use of modern machinery, equipment, and safety kits to protect sanitation workers’ lives.Announcing the decision, Justice Inam Amin Minhas ordered that all federal and provincial government bodies, as well as private institutions, must immediately cease the practice of specifying “Christian required” in job advertisements for sanitation posts. Instead, advertisements must use the term “citizen,” ensuring that religious discrimination is eliminated.
The court further directed that sanitation workers are not to be deployed inside gutters or manholes. Relevant departments must use machines and modern equipment for sewer cleaning to prevent deaths caused by toxic gases.Federal and provincial governments have been instructed to ensure full compliance with the ruling and to submit an implementation report to the Registrar of the Islamabad High Court within one month.Advocate Muhammad Majid Bashir hailed the decision as a milestone for the protection of minority rights and the safeguarding of human life
