Conference: Over five million disabled people live in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD:

In order to highlight the problems being faced by disabled people in the country, a two-day National Conference was held at Aiwan-i-Quaid in Fatima Jinnah Park.

The “National Conference on Comprehensive Rehabilitation & Empowerment of person with Disabilities”, organised by Helping Hand Pakistan, saw participation from hundreds of people, most of whom had physical disabilities. Different stalls for disability-assistance devices had been set up.

Helping Hand for Relief and Development (HHRD) Country Director Fazalur Rehman informed the audience that “the basic objective of the event is to create awareness about the rapid increase in the disabled population which has risen to five million”.

In Punjab province alone, the number of disabled has exceeded 2.8 million, while Sindh is home to 1.4 million, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has over 0.5 million, and Baluchistan has more than 0.2 million.

The chief guest, lawyer Akram Shiekh, said that disabled persons are the most neglected people in our society. While criticising the government, Sheikh said that it is the state’s prime responsibilities to provide to each needy citizen, but it has not initiated programs to support the disabled in improving their lot.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 29^th, 2012.