Body formed to fight for rights of people with disabilities

MANSEHRA: People with disabilities on Thursday formed a 20-member special interest group (SIG) to fight for their rights.

The group was formed at a meeting organised by Aawaz with the support of Saibaan Development Organisation, a non-governmental organisation.

The representatives of Social Welfare Department, Right to Services department and PWDs from Mansehra, Balakot, Oghi and Baffa-Pakhal tehsils attended the meeting.

“This all-PWDs group will ensure that their community members are employed on the 2 percent quota specified for them at public and private departments and keep liaison with the government departments to address issues and problems faced by them in the district,” Sahibzada Jawad Alfaizi, chief executive officer of Saibaan, told the meeting.

Speaking on the occasion, Awaz’s programme officer, Rafique Abbasi, said that the SIG would also be accommodated in the medical assistant board which issues them certificates of being a special person.

Tahir Iqbal, a PWD, said that their community members were deprived of their rights specified by the government as they were even denied Zakat and Baitul Mall’s financial assistance and treatment services.

Sajjad Ahmad, the district deputy social welfare officer, said that most of PWDs and transgender persons were without national identity cards, which was a big hurdle in addressing their issues and problems.

“The government has introduced a management information system digitising PWDs data but most of them are without CNIC,” Sajjad Ahmad said.