- Physically challenged need state and society’s support
December 3, being the UN sponsored International Day of Disabled Persons, it was fitting that a two-judge Supreme Court bench on Monday summoned government bureaucratic bigwigs on that day to answer queries on the abysmal condition of the country’s disabled citizens. The provincial chief secretaries, federal secretary for education and secretary establishment required therein will be the uneasy participants of judicial proceedings in a petition regarding denial of constitutional rights to disabled citizens, pending since long. The apex court has tenaciously pursued the issue of lack of disabled’s accurate national statistics, education, and most flouted employment quota, over the years, but every time it has been stymied by bureaucratic evasions and explanations of the ‘yes minister’ sitcom type. It is apparently now at the end of its patience, as the usual facile replies submitted by three provinces on Monday were brusquely dismissed as irrelevant and mere eyewash. Sindh did not even bother to furnish the called for compliance report and affidavits. Apart from lagging behind in legal framework and protection of the disabled, even existing laws are being violated, with the power-devolving 18th Amendment providing a convenient escape route to the federal government in many such thorny court cases.
In the physically impaired equation, there are too many cooks spoiling the broth, the Federal and provincial governments, Social Welfare and Bait-ul-Maal and other ministries/departments, Social Protection Authority, Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority, apart from NGOs. Pakistan has ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, entailing specific obligations, and local laws to safeguard such rights are aplenty too, the Employment and Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons Ordinance (1981), National Policy for Disabled (2002), National Plan of Action (2006), but perpetual official apathy has stifled any progress. Contrarily, visually impaired persons demanding constitutionally guaranteed employment quotas in government, commercial and industrial organisations, have been assaulted by police. To all this must be added the widespread apathy, even flippancy, of our self-centred society towards the plight of disabled, some of whom if provided a fair chance, could well become useful, even outstanding, members of society. Lifelong dependency, poverty, or begging should not be their cruel fate, nor hollow governmental speeches and mere lip service.
