4pc job quota demanded for disabled

A four per cent job quota has been demanded for disabled people in local and provincial governments as promised two years ago by Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani.
Speaking at a press conference here on Monday, office-bearers of the Pakistan Association of the Blind maintained that a disabled person only could understand their problems and, therefore, it was necessary to give them representation in the government.
They called for constitutional protection to the rights of the disabled people, adding that in this regard a section should be included in the proposed constitutional package.
The association office-bearers stressed the need for for establishing a rehabilitation centre in Islamabad. The prime minister, they maintained, had issued clear directives to the Capital Development Authority, but a plot for such a facility had not be allotted. They said the Ministry of Social Welfare and Special Education had also not released a Rs10 million grant approved by Mr Gilani.
They warned to lodge protest if their demands were not accepted by March 31.
According to statistics of the National Database and Registration Authority, 3.7 per cent of the total population in Pakistan are disabled people. But a WHO census puts it at 10 per cent of the population.