October 16, 2003	Thursday	Sha'aban 19, 1424

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RAWALPINDI, Oct 15: The government is all set to introduce a bill in the National Assembly wherein some unprecedented laws regarding rights of special persons will be introduced, said adviser to the prime minister on women development, social welfare and special education Nilofer Bakhtiar here on Wednesday.

Speaking as chief guest at a function in connection with the White Cane Safety Day, she said it was unfortunate that most of big commercial organizations, majority of them belonging to the government, did not follow the law on special persons’ quota in employments.

The programme was organized by the National Council of Social Welfare (NCSW), Rawalpindi Eye Donors’ Organization (REDO) and the Pakistan Foundation Fighting Blindness (PFFB). A large number of students of special schools, social workers, district government officials and representatives of NGOs were also present on the occasion.

Ms Bakhtiar said the fines and punishments in the old law were not enough to compensate those special persons who had intentionally been deprived of job opportunities by various organizations.

“That’s why the education and skill which the handicapped persons had acquired after great hardships did not bring any fruit,” she added.

She said 2 per cent employment quota in the jobs from grade 16 to 22 would be demanded in the next bill for handicapped persons. She said special persons were frustrated as they had been denied their 1 per cent quota in the below grade 16 jobs so far.

Ms Bakhtiar said the government would take more steps to make the over 2.49 per cent handicapped persons as participatory members of our society. She said Islamabad would be declared as a disabled friendly city while the same status would also be awarded to capitals of all the four provinces as well as Rawalpindi city.

She also distributed white canes and watches among special students of various schools and urged the private sector to play its role in making the special persons happy members of our society. Chairman NCSW Iftikharuddin, Chairperson of PFFB Dr Salma Maqbool, Chairman REDO Sultan Hashmi urged people to treat special persons as normal and respectable members of society.

The organizers also presented some recommendations which included the demands to declare Rawalpindi as a disabled friendly city, installation of motivational signboards, construction of ramps at all public utility places and accessible toilets for wheelchair-users and other special persons in hospitals, parks and other public utility sites.

They also demanded establishment of counters for special persons in hospitals, special training programmes for traffic police to provide safety to the visually-impaired and those with other disabilities. Besides, removal of discriminatory paragraph No 18 from the rules and regulations of the Federal Public Service Commission and expeditious legislation of the draft bill for 2 per cent quota in employments for disabled persons were also recommended.