THE everyday struggle of sanitation workers in Pakistan is reflective of the skewed priorities of a state that has abandoned its marginalised populations. Often drawn from Christian and Hindu communities and suffering socioeconomic discrimination from the day they are born, sanitation workers have limited avenues to better their livelihood prospects. In addition to such unforgivable prejudice, the recent cold-blooded murder of three sanitation workers in Sadiqabad, Rawalpindi, has led to a wave of fear. The men, who were shot while doing their job, were employees of a Turkish waste management company operating in Punjab. Earlier too, two workers from the same company had been shot dead. When services are outsourced to foreign companies, there are expectations that the latter will offer competitive wages, decent equipment and, above all, secure conditions to workers. The waste management company and the Punjab government must now push for an immediate investigation and the authorities must pay the pledged compensation to the bereaved families. It has been learnt garbage trucks will have security guards for protection — at best a temporary measure to assuage concerns. Unfortunately, our security framework lacks vigilant policing and intelligence gathering in densely populated cities; hence the writ of the state continues to be challenged.

Counterterrorism officials believe that the likely perpetrators could be sympathisers of the militant Islamic State group and that eliminating non-Muslims fits in with their violent ethos. If there is evidence to defend this hypothesis, then, terrorist cells should be identified and their members prosecuted. Recall that the authorities pulled down an IS flag in the Khana area of Islamabad in September — an area close to Sadiqabad. Shelving these heinous murder cases because they are simply not high-profile enough would be tantamount to giving the perpetrators a licence to spread more terror. Innocent lives must not be cut short because of the evil machinations of those perpetuating fear in an already beleaguered population.

Published in Dawn, November 22nd, 2017