Pakistan: Sindh govt to reserve some public parks in Karachi for recreation of differently-abled people
Country has 3,50,000 autistic children, including 40,000 in Karachi
Karachi: The Sindh government has announced its plan to reserve some of the public parks in Karachi dedicated for the recreation of differently-abled persons, especially autistic children.
The announcement was made by Sindh Chief Minister, Syed Murad Ali Shah, while addressing a a seminar on Autism: Current challenges and the way forward” organised by the Pakistan Centre for Autism (PCA).
The PCA office-bearers told the audience at the seminar that there were around 3,50,000 autistic children in Pakistan and some 40,000 of them are in Karachi alone.
Apart from their special care, these children should get the chance to spend time at public places like shopping malls, restaurants, and parks for greater social exposure as that would help in their early rehabilitation.
The CM mentioned that about 400 public parks were rehabilitated in Karachi during the tenure of the former city’s Administrator, Barrister Murtaza Wahab, and that there was no dearth of recreational spots in the provincial capital for reserving them for the special persons.
Similarly, the Sindh government will ask the cantonment areas in the city to dedicate some of their parks to the same noble cause, Shah added.
He said that dedicating parks would be part of his government’s strategy to promote the concepts of acceptability and inclusivity for differently-abled persons in society.
Partnership
He assured the audience that all the required steps would be taken by his government to make Sindh a role model province for the fulfilment of all the due rights and privileges of special persons.
Shah said so far his government, in partnership with the non-governmental sector, had established three centres in the province, two in Karachi and one in Hyderabad, for treating autism.
He said the government wanted to enhance its collaboration with the relevant non-profit organisations for setting up special centres for the rehabilitation of autistic children in every major city of the province.
Similarly, his government would support the initiative in the private sector for producing qualified human resources for the rehabilitation and education of differently-abled children.
At present Sindh government runs a total of 66 centres for the education of special children.
The “Sindh Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities Act” adopted in 2018 had not just defined in detail all the rights of the special persons but also envisaged punishments for the people who trample upon these rights, he added.