Job quota: Govt turning blind eye to visually-impaired people

Visually-impaired people took to the streets against the government for, what they called, depriving them of their due share in jobs, 24NewsHD TV channel reported on Monday. They staged a sit-in after the daylong protest in front of the Lahore Press Club.

Police took 20 demonstrators in custody. According to the protesters, the government assured them of providing them with jobs under special people’s quota two months ago. Police kept on forcing the protesters to disperse but they refused to budge. Detention too failed to shatter the demonstrators’ resolve.

Civil society activists showed solidarity with the protesting visually impaired persons. They condemned use of force and the detention of these special people. They too demanded authorities concerned to fulfil the demand of special persons.

In October, a number of visually impaired people held a demonstration at the Charing Cross in front of the Punjab Assembly. The protesters remained on the footpath of the road and later blocked it for traffic, on The Mall and adjacent roads. They complained that the government was ignoring their demand for job.

They said the government had promised to give them permanent jobs but it was not fulfilling its promise. They demanded the government accept their demands for regularisation of service or they would launch a protest drive.