The Bangladesh Pratibandhi Kallayan Somity on Thursday demanded proper implementation of the special provisions which deal with disabled people, and called for ensuring the rights of the handicapped.
The BPKS leaders, at a seminar on 'Rights of women with disabilities' in the National Press Club, also said that the government needs to pay special attention to disabled women while enacting laws and formulating policies.
They pointed out that though the existing laws have special provisions for disabled persons, actually few facilities are available to them.
Admitting the situation, social welfare secretary Ranjit Kumar Biswas said that the government needs to give more importance to ensure the rights of the disabled persons, particularly the women.
BPKS programme operations chief Ashrafun Nahar Mishti, in her keynote paper, pointed out that there is no 'specific and authentic' data on disabled persons, which hampers the process of ensuring the rights of such people as well as development of the country.
She also emphasised the need for reserving seats in the Parliament for disabled women to enable them to make their problems public and call for solutions.
Speakers at the seminar also emphasised the need for sincerity of the political parties in helping those who have become disabled due to political violence to lead a normal life.
They also called for introduction of software which can help disabled people to get access to information and modern technology, and for implementing the Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities.
BPKS founder and executive director Abdus Sattar Dulal, Dhaka University teacher Nazmul Ahsan Kallimullah and architect ASM Ismail participated in the seminar, along with others.
Source : New Age
