The systematic degradation of Christian communities in South Asia is not an accident, but a policy. The millions of Christians trapped in the slums of Lahore, Karachi, and Dhaka are victims of calculated exclusion. These are not merely poor neighbourhoods. They are ghettos of a permanent underclass. In the shantytowns of Pakistan and the slums of Bangladesh, clean water, electricity, basic sanitation and safety are luxuries reserved for the majority faith. Those living there are literally destined for the gutter.
In Pakistan, this exclusion has been institutionalised through a modern-day caste system. Approximately 80 per cent of the country’s sanitation workers are Christian, a staggering statistic that reveals a society segregating its citizens according to religious faith. This is not a coincidence. It is a structural feature of a state that relegates Christians to the most hazardous and degraded occupations, often forced into work deemed “unclean” for others. An entire community is confined to the sewers and the slums. It is essential for the maintenance of the city, but it is not permitted to belong to it.
The pathology is identical in Bangladesh, where the situation has moved from quiet marginalisation to active siege. Following the political upheavals of the last two years, the safety of the Christian minority is in continuous danger. From the shantytowns of Dhaka to rural outposts, we are seeing a coordinated campaign of land seizures and intimidation. In the chaos of transition, radicalised mobs have targeted Christian schools and homes, viewing the community as an alien body to be expelled.
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