Pervaiz John, Adil Masih and Ghuftaar Masih died inside due to suffocation while Tariq and Inayat were unconscious they were taken to the hospital. The officer bearers of the Combine Bargaining Agents (CBA) and WASA Employees Welfare said that around 50 workers had died in Lahore in the past ten years. They also told that they had been requesting WASA Deputy Managing Director for safety equipments for sweepers, but to no avail.                                   Daily Times May 20, 2006

Non- payment of salaries
About 100 sanitary workers of the Jinnah Town Administration went on strike and staged a sit-in protest against the non-payment of salaries at Faisalabad, on April 5, 2006. They had not been paid salaries for past three months. The protestors marched on different roads and demanded that Chief Minister should intervene on the matter.                                                Daily Dawn April 6, 2006

Service books of sanitary workers
Most of the Employees of Municipal Administration, Christians and Muslim Sheikhs at Jhang did not have their service books. The authorities had been approached many times but they did not take any interest in the matter. Without service books they have no proof of their service and get no increments.                                                                                                            NCJP report

Job replacement
Waris Gill a sanitary worker who served in Cantonment Board Quetta for 18 years died on October 1, 2004. His wife Aksi Waris was jobless and had to support four children. She requested Mr. Javed sanitary officer Cantonment Board Quetta several times for her job in place of her husband. She did not receive dues of her late husband service. The staff demanded Rs.5, 000 as bribe to release her husband’s dues.                                                                                                     NCJP report

Agriculture Workers
Bonded labour
Seven tenants through a bailiff from the custody of Ashraf Hanjra, a landowner in Kasoki, Hafizabad were set free by the Lahore High Court.                                       Daily Times September 1, 2006

Beating labourers
Chaudhry Muhammad Boota, a Muslim along with his son severely beat Adeel Masih (17) on March 9, 2006 at Chak No. 146, district Faisalabad.

His father, Iqbal Masih, (45) himself a laborer, received Rs. 30,000/- in advance from Chaudhry Muhammad Boota for his son Adeel Masih to work as a domestic servant. Chaudhary promised to give 1,000 kg wheat as wages after eight months. The landlord started abusing Adeel over minor issues.

Adeel was working when Chaudhry abused him. He reacted by asking him to stop abusing. Chaudhry got annoyed and dismissed Adeel from his job. When Adeel was on his way to home he was intercepted by Chaudhary and his son. Both of them subjected him to a sever beating, leaving him unconscious. Adeel managed to reach home and was later admitted to the Civil Hospital, Chak Jhumra.

Doctors issued the medical report no.337/L2 and 337/A2, which said that Adeel was subjected to violence, however due to the influence of the landlord the police refused to lodge a case. NCJP report

Tanneries and labour laws
The local tanneries association of Kasur demanded in its circular that labourers working in the tanneries in Kasur should be paid according to wages approved by the government.
                                                                                                Daily Dawn September 5, 2006

Domestic Workers
Ms. Allah Rakhi, a Christian domestic worker and her husband Nazeer Masih were accused of theft by their former employer Haji Ahmed Sher Awan at Rawalpindi. On February 1, 2006 some valuables were stolen from Haji’s house and an FIR was registered against unknown persons.

Nazeer Masih and his wife, who originally belonged to Gujranwala, had left the job some months before the incident. Nazeer and Allah Rakhi were arrested by the Police on the suspicion. The police tortured Nazeer during remand Hajji Sher and police forced him to admit to the crime though they were innocent.

The couple was released on bail. NCJP approached DIG Rawalpindi on behalf of Nazir and his wife for a fresh inquiry into the case.                                                                              NCJP report

The overall situation
The labour rights condition in general, is bad in the country. The existing safeguards lack implementation and there is need of more appropriate legislation. The Industrial Relations Ordinance 2002 meant to liberalize trade, etc. infringed upon the labour rights.

It is not a co-incident that sectors having; bonded labour, low wages and a lack of, or no social security also have a high concentration of minority labourers. It is so in the agriculture, brick kiln factories, sanitation work, carpet weaving and domestic servitude.

A great majority of bonded labourers are employed in what is called “informal” sectors (Agriculture, carpet weaving, domestic labour). Brick kilns though formally covered by the labour laws, lack safeguards due to non-implementation.

Sanitation workers lack safeguards to their rights on excuse of having ‘different service rules’ as employees of the local governments. The new local bodies have particularly infringed whatever safeguards the sanitation workers had earlier in shape of new contract labour system.

The case of minority labourers is again of ‘double disadvantage’, being poor and identification as a minority exposes them to many economic injustices and exploitations in their professions and at work place.

The evidence shows problems of religious discrimination at workplaces partly due to overall policies and laws but also because of the social conditions where religious bias helps the perpetrators of human rights to get away with a process of law.

Recommendations
1. We appeal to the government to introduce agricultural reforms, accommodating landless peasants in lieu of absentee landlordism and fixation of a minimum wage for the agricultural labour.

2. The rights of millions of domestic workers remain unprotected due to a lack of legislation for them. We urge a proper legislation in order to protect their rights and interests, especially protecting them from harassment in the wake of a theft, etc. in the houses they serve. We also urge the government to bring domestic work under the Minimum Wage and monitoring system of the labour inspection.

3. The sanitation employees of local bodies (Municipalities), WASA, Cantonment Boards and other government bodies should regularized, paid fairly and on regular basis. They must be provided safety equipments and health insurance and compensation for being engaged in hazardous occupation.

4. The Bonded Labour Act 1992 and the regulations must be implemented in letter and spirit. Moreover the Brick kiln owners, landlords and other employers maintaining bonded labour must be brought to justice by the State.

The government should bring a labour friendly labour policy in consultation with labour organizations.