Lahore incident: Law to protect disabled persons demanded

Protesters set Jan 2 as deadline for the govt for acceptance of their demands.

Members of the civil society on Sunday protested outside the Rescue 15 Office on Murree road against police action against visually impaired persons in Lahore recently.

The protest was jointly organised by Ability Foundation for Disabled Persons, The Angles School for Special Education and Aman Development Foundation.

The protesters included disabled men, women and children, who demanded action against the policemen responsible for the incident. The demonstrators also demanded legislation in favour of protection of the rights of the disabled and employment quotas.



Addressing the protesters, Centre for Peace and Development Initiative (CPDI) Programme Manager Syed Kausar Abbas urged Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Punjab Inspector General of Police Mushtaq Sukhera to take notice of the incident and bring the guilty officials to book.

Abbas said the government should organise training sessions to change the behaviour of the police so such shameful incidents do not take place in the future.

The protesters set January 2 as the deadline for the government for acceptance of their demands, saying if their demands were not met they would hold a protest at Constitution Avenue.

Angles School for Special Education Director Nadim Joseph, Aman Development Foundation Head Muhammad Tufail, as well as leaders of the Pakistan Peoples Party, Jamaat-e-Islami and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf also spoke at the protest.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 8^th, 2014.