Visually impaired people threaten to resume protest

Leaders say govt has not fulfilled promises of jobs, education

LAHORE: Visually impaired people have threatened to protest at D Chowk in the federal capital against the government’s failure to fulfill its promises of offering them employment. Addressing a news conference, the Chairman of the Pakistan Welfare Union of the Blind, Mohammad Fayyaz, and its President Nabeel Satti lamented that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government, like its predecessors, had failed to deliver on its promises. They said the government had not fulfilled its promises with people with special needs regarding the provision of health cards, facilitation under the Ehsas Programme and education and employment opportunities. The promise of giving more than 600 jobs to visually impaired people had not been fulfilled yet, they said. The leaders of visually im

paired people said that they should be given government jobs in accordance with their qualifications and those serving on daily wage or as contract employees should be regularised. They said those who had passed the age limit for recruitment should be issued health insurance and Ehsas Programe cards.

They said Punjab government should allocate six per cent job quota for people suffering from disabilities as Sindh and Balochistan had already done. The members of Pakistan Welfare Union of the Blind warned that they would return to the roads for protest from February 17 if their demands were not met. The protesters warned they would also hold a sit-in at Islamabad’s D Chowk if they did not get a positive response.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 3^rd, 2020.