PHOTO COURTESY: rnib.org.uk/FILE
LAHORE: Lahore High Court’s (LHC) Justice Shujaat Ali Khan issued notices to both the federal and the provincial governments on a petition seeking directions to settle the genuine grievances of visually-impaired persons.
Judicial Activism Panel filed a petition through senior advocate Muhammad Azhar Siddique, contending that the state has failed to provide fundamental rights to citizens.
He argued that differently-abled persons of any country were considered special in every walk of life and treated with appropriate care. He submitted that such differently-abled people were running from pillar to post in society to get their legal and constitutional rights, but nobody was ready to listen to their grievances.
He said the differently-abled persons have equal rights in Pakistan and may have even more rights than any other national.
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He was of the view that the rights of the differently-abled have been laid down in the Constitution of the country and could not be overlooked.
He said although the Lahore High Court has given orders to give due rights, as per law, the same seemed to hold little value for the bureaucracy and the executive.
“The recent sit-in is proof that our leadership has no vision. In fact, our leaders are myopic and visually-challenged themselves.”
He told the court that there was no special treatment for differently abled-persons when it comes to travel.
The lawyer pointed out that the government does not include even a single penny for differently-abled persons. “The population of Pakistan is around 200 million and 17.5% persons are disabled. Employment opportunities were not being provided to them as nothing was allocated to this end in the budget.”
He also questioned the facilities provided for such persons on the Orange Line Metro Train. “Will there be allocated and prescribed seats near the entrance and exit for disabled persons? How much discount will the given or will their transit on the Orange line metro train be free of cost?” he asked.
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He said Pakistan Railway does not provide any special seats or exclusive bogeys nor is there any ease of access in these trains. He added they were given a 50% discount on the train ticket whereas people above 75 years of age travel for free.
“Should there not be free travel for all of the differently-abled people regardless of the transit platform? Has the government or the Pakistan Railway done anything in this regard?”
He requested the court that appropriate directions may very kindly be issued to respondents the government of Punjab and the federal government to settled the genuine grievances of the visually impaired persons in order to enforce Article 9, 14, 18, 4 and 5 of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973 and to provide the details, information and materials relating to the steps taken for the betterment of the disabled community.
The court was also requested to issue appropriate directions to allocate budget for the statutory vacant posts in Punjab and as well as the federation to enforce the fundamental rights of the differently-abled persons, in the interest of justice, fair play and equity.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 14th, 2019.
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