President for ‘inclusive society’ to absorb specially-abled people

Arif Alvi says technology can be an enabler, facilitator for such people

ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi on Tuesday stressed the need for developing an inclusive and well-equipped society to accommodate people with physical and mental challenges by offering them tailor-made employment opportunities and facilities.

Addressing an event on ‘Sharing compassion with special persons’ at the Aiwan-e-Sadr on Tuesday, the president said that the criteria to judge a great nation was not its financial strength alone, but the spirit to absorb its ‘people with slow pace’.

The event had been organized by Akhuwat, a micro-finance organization that provides interest-free loans to the economically marginalized sections of society including specially-abled people.

Terming specially-abled people a ‘symbol of hope and courage’, President Alvi emphasized on formulating policies at the government level to make them a productive segment of society.

By allocating a quota for jobs for specially-abled people, ensuring access to public places through ramps and other specialized services, it could ease the lives of these citizens.

He stressed that specially-abled people should be given an education at regular schools instead of special-needs institutions so that society can be sensitized about their problems and requirements.

The president was also critical of insufficient reporting of specially-abled people in the last national census, blaming allegedly flawed forms the unavailability of accurate data.

Dr Alvi added technology can be an effective tool that can facilitate and enable specially-abled people in their everyday life. Referring to its charitable nature of citizens, he said that the Pakistani nation was immensely passionate about caring for needy people and recalled its generosity in difficult times including the post-2005 massive earthquake, by selflessly supporting the affected persons. He mentioned that Pakistan hosted millions of Afghan refugees for four decades, which he said was a glowing example of humanitarian gesture.

The President lauded the contribution of Akhuwat for providing support to the less privileged people and sharing the burden of the government through its multiple initiatives.

Akhuwat Executive Director Dr Amjad Saqib briefed about his organisation’s history and how they started 18 years ago with micro-loans, providing a few thousand rupees.

Since then, he said that his organisation had become a pillar of support for the needy who wanted to earn a livelihood without compromising on their dignity.

He said Akhuwat was based on the concept of the brotherhood of the people of Madina centuries ago who proved themselves as an icon of sacrifice. Dr Saqib mentioned that with a 99.9 per cent return ratio of their interest-free loans, the organization’s initiative was bringing happiness to deserving people through the loans currently touching Rs100 billion.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 25^th, 2019.