Visually-impaired hold protest, demand jobs

Say their services have not been regularised

LAHORE: Visually-impaired people held a protest against the government’s failure to give them the opportunities and not regularising the few who had been employed.

They protested in front of the Lahore Press Club on Monday and demanded that those working on daily wages should be regularized. The demonstrators also demanded that Khidmat cards be awarded to them immediately.



They stated that the government made promises of providing them with jobs, but nothing had been done to date. They bemoaned that this was a regrettable state of affairs and chanted slogans against the government for lackadaisical approach towards its problems.

They said the government made false promises of job opportunities, but nothing was done for them. The visually-impaired people blocked the road and caused a massive traffic jam.

Meanwhile Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) legislator Nabila Hakim Ali Khan submitted a resolution in the Punjab Assembly, demanding that the government give them jobs in accordance with the special quota and regularize those working on contract.



She said that a month had passed and the government’s promises to fulfill the demands of blind people were yet to be fulfilled. She said that was equal to depriving them of their rights and demanded that the government regularise their services immediately.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Nabila said the government’s actions were prompting sit-ins and forcing people onto the streets to resolve public matters.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 5^th, 2017.