Daily Times

In a symposium organized at the Beach Luxury Hotel by the Disabled Welfare Association (DWA) and the Soorty Enterprises, Jawaid Rais, Founder DWA expressed his gratitude to the participants for an overwhelming support. The participants also acknowledged K-Electric for their announcement during the symposium to support a disabled child with a grant of Rs 1.5 crore.

The symposium which was organized in relation to the upcoming International Day of People with Disabilities, the objective was to convince the influential decision-makers of society to take practical steps in order to create an inclusive environment in Pakistan.

Rizwan Dalia, Chief People’s Officer of K-Electric, received praise from the participants for sharing his company’s steps towards ensuring the well-being of persons with disabilities. Dalia, while addressing the audiences, also shared that KE has organized recruitment drives aiming to have differently abled people in his organization. He also announced that Rs 1.5 crore have been set aside by KE for a child, Master Umar, who received injuries due to an unfortunate electrocution incident. The participants of the symposium praised KE for acting as a torch-bearer for the rights of disabled, and also appreciated the fact that KE has been supporting Master Umar for his education as well as healthcare since the incident took place in 2018, and pledged to continue the support till the age of 24 years. “Master Umar will also be offered a job at KE in line with his qualification once he completes his education”, Rizwan Dalia further shared.

Terming this event an adoption of futuristic trends, the speakers from different organizations also had a deep dive to explore further avenues of support to create an environment of inclusion. They expressed that taking the right actions at all levels towards ensuring an inclusive society in Pakistan was imperative. Disabled Welfare Association also announced to be the facilitator in the process of keeping transparency over the payment from K-Electric to Master Umar.

“Pragmatically, Inclusion is a very new concept in Pakistan and stakeholders need to set a new direction for inclusion” said a participant during one of the three plenary sessions on ‘Disability and industrial workforce’, ‘Disability and corporate workforce’, and ‘Inclusive Education’. All the panelists were specialists in their respective fields. Apart from the plenary session, an oath taking ceremony also took place during the symposium to work diligently to bring further revolutionary changes in Pakistan. Sarwat Gilani, renowned actress and social activist, took the oath from participants.

“I feel solace and inner peace whenever I take an initiative to bring improvement in the lives of persons with disabilities. I strongly feel that all the stakeholders should work in close connection with each other to take multisector measures so that the inclusion can be visible at a broader scale in every segment of the society”, furthet said Jawaid Rais.

Representatives of various banks, heads of prominent NGOs and specialists in the field of diversity and inclusion attended the event and were part of plenary discussions on topics. An interactive story-telling session was also held for children with disabilities. Ceremony was also attended by dignitaries, influencers, media persons, and prominent civil society members.