A Christian Pakistani sewage worker has died after three
Muslim doctors refused to touch him.
Irfan Masih died on June 1, in Umar Kot Civil Hospital,
Sindh, Pakistan. According to World Watch Monitor, the doctors said that their fast would be 'makruh'
meaning invalid because he was 'unclean' from the blood on his body and belonged
to a 'chuhra'.
The word 'chura' means 'low caste' and is espeically
derogatory and reserved for sanitory workers but can often be used in the
Pakistan for 'Christian'.
The Umar Kot Civil Hospital in Sindh has around 75
Christian families in which the majority work as sanitory workers, a job that
many muslims in the area refuse to do. In 1999, writer, Casey Ethan said : 'Most
Pakistani Christians today still do the same work as their untouchable
ancestors: sweeping the streets and doing other menial jobs formerly deemed
ritually or literally unclean by higher-caste.'
After the death of Ifran Masih, Christians from Umar Kot
Civil Hospital blocked the road crossing and demanded for a criminal case to be
opened against the three doctors who refused to treat him.
Usman Javed Bajwa, the Senior Superintendent of Police,
told World Watch Monitor that a case of murder by negligence had eventually been
registered, and the police would submit its reports in the
court. Christian
Today.
