Disabled vow to extend protest to other provinces

KABUL (Pajhwok): Dozens of people with disabilities, who have been staging a sit-in protest since last three weeks in front of the parliament in Kabul, on Monday said they would expand their protest to other provinces if their stipends were not paid.

Around 40 people with disabilities started the sit-in protest 20 days ago to protest government’s negligence in releasing their stipends.

On Monday, the protestors demanded their rights and warned to spread the protest to other provinces if their complaints went unnoticed.

Bashir Deera, one of the protestors, said, “We installed the protest tent 20 days ago but no government official has visited us to listen to our voice or respond to our request.”

He said they had met with officials of the Ministry of Martyrs and People with Disabilities, who promised to resolve their problems, but no practical step was taken.

“We want the rights and privileges of people with disabilities law to be implemented and our benefits are given to us based on the law,” he said.

Deera said three percent employees of national and international organs of the government should be people with disabilities, but their presence in these organs was currently every limited.

He added that Independent Administrative Reform and Civil Service Commission (IARCSC) did not take into account the employment quota for handicapped people.

Around 500 of people with disabilities had been busy doing small businesses in Kabul but the Kabul municipality recently removed their stalls and rendered them jobless, he said.

Mawlana Miragha, head of Council of People with Disabilities, said that handicapped people were a vulnerable class of the society and they needed others support.

“We have been here in a protest tent since last 20 days in front of the parliament, but no one has responded to our voice,” he said.

He said they would not go anywhere until their benefits were given and the relevant law was implemented.

Miragha warned they would close the parliament gates and extend their protest to other provinces if they were further ignored.

Mds/ma