Islamabad: Consumer Rights Commission of Pakistan (CRCP) condemns the takeover of the hostel of National Special Education Centre for Mentally Retarded Children and demands the Baitul Maal authorities to immediately vacate the building. This takeover shows a total disregard, on the part of concerned officials, for the rights of marginalized sections of society and is, therefore, highly deplorable.
CRCP defines consumers as a broader category than customers including the marginalized sections of society who cannot stand in the market as customers. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the state to protect them and provide essential services. Disabled being consumers of various services are entitled to certain rights, including basic education, health, personality development, and so on so forth. CRCP has been demanding that special people must be integrated into the mainstream by making the development plans and initiatives sensitive to their needs and providing them necessary facilities in public places. But what is happening is just the opposite. CRCP is disappointed with the takeover of the hostel as even the existing facilities for disabled are being taken away.
It is also unfortunate that the Ministry of Social Welfare and Special Education have failed to resist such attempts by making shameful excuses of under-utilization of the available infrastructure. CRCP believes that it was the duty of the Ministry of Social Welfare and Special Education to ensure that all the required infrastructure, facilities and staff were provided to the Special Education Centre. Given the socio-cultural environment wherein parents treat disabled as capable of nothing, it was the duty of the Ministry to create awareness and attract parents to admit their disabled children in the Centre. But it failed in identifying the problem and then in rectifying it.
As the building is specifically designed for disabled by providing special facilities, the only rational course is to use it for the original purpose by dealing with the problems which have thus far led to its under-utilization. Government must allocate special funds to make the Centre functional to its optimal capacity. Taking over of the building is totally unjustified in view of he fact that there exist thousands of disabled children in the country and need to be admitted in such Centres. Instead of closing eyes to the magnitude of the problem, efforts must be made to come up with a comprehensive welfare policy for the disabled. One reason for this is that, perhaps it is easier to take away the rights of those who are not likely to make noise against such injustice.
CRCP call upon the citizens and civil society organizations to resist this move and demand the government to allocate required funds to make the Special Education Centre fully functional