ICC Note:

A Christian man who was hired to collect and distribute water at a girls’ high school in Pakistan is back at work after winning his discrimination case. Earlier this year, The Christian man was demoted to janitorial work by the school’s headmistress, a Muslim, who told him that no one wanted to take water from him because of his faith identity. Christians in Pakistan are considered unclean by some Muslims. This “untouchability” continues to be one of the major issues Christians in Pakistan face on a daily basis. 

5/20/2016 Pakistan (Asia News) – The Christian water man who was dismissed from a girls’ high school in Partab Nagar (Faisalabad) because of his faith is back at work.

Back in February, MC Girls High School headmistress Najma Naheed told Qaisar Jahan, “You are Christian and no one in the school wants to get a glass of water from you”.

Because of this, she ordered him to do janitorial work rather than the work for which he was hired. Jahan refused and filed a complaint. After months of legal wrangling, he is now back at work.

The case began in May 2015 when the school mistress, a Muslim, sent a request to the Education District Office (EDO) for a worker. The choice fell on Jahan, who began in November.

However, by the end of December, she started to put pressure on him, complaining that he was refusing to do janitorial work. On 6 February, she wrote a letter of complaint to the EDO.

At that point, Jahan turned to Lala Robin Daniel, a Christian activist who heads the National Minorities Alliance of Pakistan (NMAP) and is the president of the AAWAZ district forum. Daniel filed a complaint with the EDO for religious discrimination on Qaisar’s behalf.

A few days ago, the EDO convened Jahan and the school mistress. The latter was asked to apologies in public for her biased behavior and to promise that she would never criticized the faith of any colleague.

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