Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has put Rs 500 million behind an idea Pakistan’s disability policy has taken too long to embrace: inclusive governance.
The province’s proposed programme will offer interest-free loans to persons with disabilities, while another Rs 700 million has been allocated for scholarships. Both deserve support. Their real worth, however, will be measured far from the announcement ceremony.
Pakistan does not suffer from an absence of disability policy. Its first employment and rehabilitation framework dates to 1981. Later came a national policy, provincial laws, job quotas and ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
The State Bank introduced a dedicated small-enterprise financing scheme in 2019 and followed it with a broader financial-inclusion policy, requiring banks to improve accessibility, recruitment and services for persons with disabilities.
When Pakistan appeared before the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in March, it reported that around 3.1 per cent of its population was living with disabilities, a figure experts questioned as strikingly low against wider international estimates. They also raised concerns about inaccessible transport, schools and public buildings, uneven employment opportunities and the small number of persons with disabilities. According to research, even the longstanding government employment quota is poorly implemented.
The scholarship allocation matters for precisely this reason. Education, skills and finance sit on the same economic road. Loans offered after years of exclusion from quality schooling will reach only a fraction of their potential beneficiaries. Nor should self-employment become a convenient substitute for enforcing employment rights.
Some citizens will build businesses; others deserve fair access to salaried work, professional careers and public service.
KP also has earlier experience to learn from. Its broader Ehsaas Nojawan programme already reserved quotas for persons with disabilities while offering interest-free loans. The new disability-focused window should therefore publish clear eligibility rules.
It is high time for economic policy to recognise ramps, accessible banking, assistive technology, education and transport for what they also are: productive infrastructure. At the end of the day, the harder assignment for any government is making sure the economy is open enough for people to use it.
