‘Govt failing to give disabled their rights’

Official says govt does not entertain CVs of the disabled, offices do not have special ramps, other facilities.

ISLAMABAD: The government has done little to help the disabled in Pakistan, according to Sibghatur Rehman, the director general of special education in the Ministry of Social Welfare and Special Education.

“In many government offices, their CVs are not entertained.

Most offices do not have special ramps so they can gain easy access,” Rehman told The Express Tribune.

He said a National Plan of Action had been formulated in 2005-06 to implement the 2002 National Policy for Persons with Disabilities, but it had been ineffective.

Two bills – the Pakistan Persons with Disabilities Act 2008 and Persons With Disabilities (equal opportunities, protection of rights and full participation) Act 2008  were prepared in 2009 but are yet to be presented in the National Assembly, he said. The two bills need to be enacted for Pakistan to ratify the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which it signed in 2008.

Rehman expressed concern over the government’s recent decision to transfer the powers of federal ministries, including the Ministry of Social Welfare and Special Education, to the provinces.

“I’m afraid the performance of this ministry will suffer. Nothing is being done for handicapped people at the provincial level,” he added.

He said the government had not counted the number of people in Pakistan with disabilities since the 1998 census.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 3^rd, 2010.