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Rights of Physically Challenged

Pakistani society has not been fair to the physically challenged. There is a need
to give them equitable opportunities under countrywide legislation.

By Dr. Qasim Sodhar | October 2020

Before discussing the ICT Rights of Persons with Disability Act 2020, that was passed by the National Assembly in January 2020, I want to emphasize on using the term ‘physically challenged persons’ instead of ‘disabled persons’ because disability is a very harsh word.

“Disability means a long-term physical or mental condition that limits a person’s movements, senses or activities and includes physical, mental, intellectual and developmental disorders or sensory impairments.”

The term ‘physically challenged’ is more appropriate. It is a well-known reality that our society has not remained fair to such people, which is tragic. In view of the unfair behaviour towards physically challenged people, the Federal Minister for Human Rights, Shireen Mazari took an initiative to move a Bill in the National Assembly which was passed in January 2020.

Said Daily Dawn, “… the Constitution guarantees the fundamental rights of all citizens, including persons with disabilities, without discrimination. As a party to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Pakistan is obliged to ensure and promote the full realization of rights and freedoms for persons with disabilities by taking appropriate legislative, administrative and policy measures.”
The main objective of the Bill was to eradicate all kinds of discrimination against physically challenged people. Also, according to the Bill, nobody can even conduct research or release news of any physically challenged person without his/her permission. This is also part of the ‘research ethics’ but still such ethics are most of the time surpassed. The Bill also emphasizes for physically challenged persons equality before the law, equality in employment, right to privacy, ease of access and mobility, protection from abusive, violent and intolerant discriminatory behavior, right to live independently in the community, and the right to own property, etc. Likewise, they will be given fair opportunities in educational institutions both government as well as in private institutions.

As far as the educational institutions are concerned, they can adopt physically challenged students’ friendly policies by their own, and for that matter, they even do not need any legislation by the Assembly. In this context, though the Bill was not passed and approved by the Senate of Pakistan, yet a separate center for physically challenged students was established by the Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad Alumni Association a few months ago.

I have visited that center where computers and other required material is available for facilitation of physically challenged students so that they can have learning opportunities that are equal to other students. I attended the opening ceremony of the center, where I saw great enthusiasm for physically challenged students. It is very important to realize that if physically challenged students get proper facilitation, they can perform equally as non-physically challenged students. However, it is unfortunate that due to COVID-19, the Bill passed by the NA could not be debated in the Senate and, after a period of three months, it automatically lapsed in April 2020. Now, it will again be tabled as private members Bill.

The Bill may not have been passed by the Senate because the Senate could not meet due to COVID-19, but it is also a bitter truth that our legislation committees have not been much interested in such matters. We have seen how a speedy process was undertaken for extending the tenure for a position or the establishment of particular courts, etc. But the Disability Bill did not get much attention and ultimately lapsed. At the same, it should be kept in mind that this Bill was only for Islamabad Capital Territory but not for all physically challenged persons in the country. So, the scope of the Bill was very limited. This was a good start though. If the government could legislate for physically challenged persons in Islamabad, the process could be extended to the rest of country.

The provincial governments of Sindh and Balochistan had already passed such Bills. However, the governments in KPK and Punjab should also take up such measures. In this regard, I would suggest to the federal government, especially the Minister for Human Rights, that a new Bill should be moved in the Assembly as soon as possible which should not be limited to Islamabad alone but must have a larger scope, so that all physically challenged persons can get equal opportunities as mentioned in the ICT Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2020.

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