Special persons: NA Speaker forms body to review laws

ISLAMABAD: National Assembly (NA) Speaker Asad Qaiser constituted a 4-members sub-committee to finalise Terms of Reference of the committee in collaboration with welfare organisations, serving for the cause of Person with Disabilities (PWDs) for the review of the existing and pending laws, study of the best international practices and conventions and potential proposals.

NA Speaker said the special committee would be task orientated and would follow the success stories of the Special Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture and Executive Committee of Parliamentary Friendship Group.

The first meeting of the Special Committee on Disable Persons with the chair of NA Speaker Asad Qaisar was held here at the Parliament House on Wednesday. The forum was informed at length about the background, scope, purpose and significance of the committee.

The committee was informed about the steps taken by the NA for the special persons by making Parliament House more accessible, translation of Constitution into braille, making website accessible for the visually impaired persons etc.

Asad Qaiser said that legislation to ameliorate the hardships of the PWDs and to support them to be the productive part of every socio-economic strata of the society would be chief objective of this ever first parliamentary committee on Disabled Persons in the history of the Parliament.

The NA Speaker said that incumbent government was especially focusing for inclusion of the marginalised segments of society in mainstream. He stated that an affirmative action based programme was a prerequisite step to uplift the lives of the people with disabilities.

The meeting was attended by members of the National Assembly including Ali Nawaz Shah, Aftab Jehangir, Ms. Kishwar Zehra, Ms. Zille Huma, Ms. Shaheen Naz Saifullah, Ms. Saira Bano, Ms. Farrukh Khan and members from the different organisations, working on disabilities.