The blind seek two percent job quota in Pakistan banking sector

The blind seek two percent job quota in Pakistan banking sector
Shahnaz Javed Mahmood
25/09/2009

KARACHI — Blind Pakistani citizens are seeking a two percent job quota in banks, said Amir Ashraf, president of the Pakistan Association of the Blind (PAB) on September 17.

“A few days ago, we met the chief of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Syed Salim Raza, in Karachi and requested he implement the government’s decision to grant a two percent job quota for blind Pakistanis in public sector organisations,” Ashraf said.

The SBP, National Bank of Pakistan, Zarai Taraqiati Bank Ltd., House Building Finance Corporation, Bank of Punjab and the Punjab Cooperatives Commercial Bank all operate under the government’s provision for the blind.

Only a few government organisations actually hire blind individuals, however, as most state-run entities ignore the quota altogether, Ashraf added.

“There are hundreds of blind citizens who can join banks after an initial training,” said PAB Finance Secretary Muhammad Hussain. “We have informed the SBP that if banks continue to ignore the quota, the PAB will take up this issue with the Prime Minister’s office and the Supreme Court.”

He also pointed out that the blind face problems in opening personal accounts in banks, as well as obtaining credit cards and loans in the wake of a recent directive of the SBP.

In August, the SBP wrote a letter directing Pakistan’s banks not to open any new personal accounts for the blind, and to convert existing single accounts into joint accounts, a decision that has been called discriminatory by the PAB.

“The SBP chief has promised to solve the banking problems of the blind, and in October we can expect some breakthrough in this regard,” said Imran Maqbool, external affairs manager of the SBP. He added that the SBP has issued a directive to reduce the chance of fraud in the bank accounts of blind customers.