[NOTICE: To facilitate your intervention of the urgent appeals issued by the AHRC, we have developed a new automatic letter-sending system using the "button" below. However, in this appeal, we could not include e-mail addresses of many of the Pakistan authorities. We encourage you to send your appeal letters via fax or post to those people. Fax numbers and postal addresses of the Pakistan authorities are attached below with this appeal. Thank you.]

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ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal

15 December 2006
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UA-402-2006: PAKISTAN: Disabled student has been allegedly denied admission to a medical college based on his condition

PAKISTAN: Discrimination on the basis of disability; violation of the right of education
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding a 23 year-old man named Mustafa Rehman who had his college application rejected based on his disability by the King Edward Medical College in Lahore, Punjab province, Pakistan. Even though he is qualified for admission, he has allegedly been denied entry by the university admission committee. The university’s actions are illegal under Pakistani law which clearly states that people who are disabled have a right to pursue higher education as long as the student does not suffer from "mental retardation".

CASE DETAILS:

Mustafa Rehman who suffers from a lumbers disability has been a candidate for admission to a medical college in Punjab, Pakistan. He was denied admission to the medical college on the pretext of this disability despite even though this is in clear violation of the law. Dr. Sirjuddin who is an official in the Ministry of health has reaffirmed the notion that no educational institution can bar a candidate from seeking admission based on disabilities except for cases where the candidate shows mental retardation. 

Mustafa's had lodged his application under the admissions category reserved for people suffering from disabilities, as specified by the Government’s Medical colleges of the Punjab, Pakistan. This category is explicitly reserved for students who suffer from disabilities.

Based on Mustafa’s qualifications, he was invited by the college to sit the college’s entry exam in December 2002. After successfully writing the exam and waiting for almost 5 months, Mustafa was then called for an interview. It was then allegedly determined by the college that his admission should be rejected allegedly based on his disability.

Mustafa was first operated on in the first years of his infancy. He later underwent surgery when he was six-months old and later at the age of 5 years. He passed his FSc (Fellow of Science) examination for pre-Med administered by the Federal Board of Secondary and Intermediate Studies and was a Bachelor of Medicine and a Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) candidate whose entry test scores had passed with 740 out of 1100.

Furthermore, Mustafa claims that many of the candidates who sat the exam with him have already been granted admission in spite of the fact that their percentages were as low as 63 per cent. Mustafa mentions that he has seen the scores in the merit list and that many of the applicants have sought admission on the basis of their political contacts and families' influence. 

Mustafa then went to the Lahore High Court and lodge a formal complaint that was not ruled upon for another 8 to 9 months. The court passed its verdict on 31 October 2003 and dismissed the admission application on the grounds that the court did not have any jurisdiction over the admission committee’s decision.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

In Pakistan, the FSc is a higher secondary school certificate program which is equivalent to high school. It is a prerequisite for admission to the medical college for any candidate who aspires to seek admission to the professional colleges. They also must take the preliminary examination followed by an aptitude test usually called Entry Tests. This system was introduced in 1996 as an extra burden on students which itself contradicts the examination system of the aptitude tests.  The exams are then followed by an interview which determines whether a candidate fails or passes the admission procedure.

The Ministry of Education in Pakistan has also been pursuing a duel examination policy on the basis of which results to the medical colleges can be manipulated and well deserving candidates are denied admissions on the basis that there needs to be more room for the children of the influential parents.

Meanwhile on 8 December 2006, the division bench of the Sindh High Court passed a verdict in a similar case of a disabled woman who was denied entry on the same grounds as Mustafa.  That is, she suffered from a physical disability and had no political connections that could secure her admission. Fortunately, the high court decided in favour of the girl and demanded her entry on the basis of merit and not by unfair means .The court was told by the consul of the victim that she was not mentally retarded so she should not have been denied admission. Therefore, in similar vain Mr. Mustafa must have the right to appeal his court ruling based on this verdict.

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please write to the relevant authorities listed below and demand their urgent intervention.  Please urge them to conduct a prompt and independent inquiry as to why Mr. Mustafa Rehman had been denied the admission. Also urge the authorities to identify those responsible and take legal action against them as well as to ensure that due respect of the rights of the disabled are practiced and protected in the country. There should be a system of equality before the law in all matters regardless of political affiliation. Furthermore, please ask the authorities to maintain a system of checks and balances so that the rights of the disabled are not discriminated upon.

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Sample letter:

Dear ___________,

PAKISTAN: Disabled student has allegedly been denied admission to a medical college based on his condition

Name of victim: Mustafa Rehman, 23 years-old, House No 422, Street No 5, Colony Mehar Wazir, Nowshera Rd, Gujranwala – 52250
Alleged perpetrators: Dr. Mumtaz Hassan, Principal and Chairman of the Admission Committee, Kind Edward Medical College, Lahore, Punjab province, Pakistan
Period of denial of education: Since 31 October 2003 to date

I am writing to express my utmost concern in the wake a 23 year-old man named Mustafa Rehman who had his college application rejected based on his disability by King Edward Medical College in Lahore, Punjab province, Pakistan.

Even though he is qualified for admission, he has allegedly been denied entry by the university admission committee. The university’s actions are illegal under Pakistani law which clearly states that people who are disabled have a right to pursue higher education as long as the student does not suffer from "mental retardation".

I have learned that Mustafa Rehman, who suffers from a lumbers disability, has been a candidate for admission to a medical college in Punjab, Pakistan. He was denied admission to the medical college on the pretext of this disability despite even though this is in clear violation of the law. Dr. Sirjuddin who is an official in the Ministry of health has reaffirmed the notion that no educational institution can bar a candidate from seeking admission based on disability except for cases where the candidate shows mental retardation. 

Mustafa had lodged his application under the admissions category reserved for people suffering from disabilities, as specified by the Government’s Medical colleges of the Punjab, Pakistan. This category is explicitly reserved for students who suffer from disabilities.

Based on Mustafa’s qualifications, he was invited by the college to sit the college’s entry exam in December 2002. After successfully writing the exam and waiting for almost 5 months, Mustafa was then called for an interview. It was then allegedly determined by the college that his admission should be rejected based on his disability.

I understand that Mustafa was first operated on in the first years of his infancy. He later underwent surgery when he was six-months old and later at the age of 5 years. He passed his FSc (Fellow of Science) examination for pre-Med administered by the Federal Board of Secondary and Intermediate Studies and was a Bachelor of Medicine and a Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) candidate whose entry test scores had passed with 740 out of 1100.

Furthermore, I know that Mustafa claims many candidates who sat the exam with him have already been granted admission in spite of the fact that their percentages were as low as 63 per cent. Mustafa mentions that he has seen the scores in the merit list and that many of the applicants have sought admission on the basis of their political contacts and families influence. 

I understand that Mustafa then went to the Lahore High Court and lodge a formal complaint that was not ruled upon for another 8 to 9 months. The court passed its verdict on 31 October 2003 and dismissed the admission application on the grounds that the court did not have any jurisdiction over the admission committee’s decision.

Given that Mustafa's denial of entry falls under the legal provisions provided for the physically disabled and as it is in violation of the basic norms of the constitution of Pakistan which allocates a 6 per cent quota in the educational sector to all those who suffer from physical deformity, there should be no discrimination made against him. I urge you to grant admission to Mustafa on the basis of merit, as it is clear that he has right to study at the college based on his entrance scores. Finally, I urge you to consider the verdict of the Sindh High court as a model on how educational institutions must not discriminate based on physical disabilities.

I look forward to your urgent intervention in this matter. 

Yours sincerely,

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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTER TO:

1. General Pervez Musharraf
President
President's Secretariat
Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 51 922 1422, 4768/ 920 1893 or 1835

2. Choudhry Pervez Illahi
Chief Minister of Punjab
Chief Minister House
Lahore
Punjab province
PAKISTAN
 
3. Lt. General (Retd) Javed Ashraf Qazi
Federal Minister of Education
Room # 205
D Block
Pakistan Secretariat
Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Tel: +92 51 920 1392
Fax: +92 51 920 3245

4. Mr. Imran Masood
Minister of Education
Punjab provincial government
Punjab Secretarait
Lahore
PAKISTAN
Tel: +92 042 921 0320
Fax: +92 042 921 8038

5. Mr. Muhammad Wasi Zafar
Minister of Law, Justice and Human Rights
S Block
Pakistan Secretariat
Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 51 920 2628
E-mail: minister@molaw.gov.pk

6. Joint Secretary for Law, Justice and Human Rights
S Block
Pakistan Secretariat
Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Tel: + 92 51 920 2819
Fax: + 92 51 920 3119

7. Lt. General Khalid Maqbool
Governor of Punjab
Governor House, Mall Road
Lahore
Punjab province
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 42 9200023
E-mail: governor.sectt@punjab.gov.pk 

8. Secretary of Law and Parliamentary Government of Punjab
Punjab Secretariat
Ravi Road
Lahore
Punjab province
PAKISTAN
E-mail: law@punjab.gov.pk

9. Mr. Vernor Munoz
UN Special Rapporteur on the right to education
Attn: Isabelle Sevin
Room 3-042
c/o OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 917 9117
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 (ATTN: SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR RIGHT TO EDUCATION)

Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ahrchk@ahrchk.org)