The handicapped conduct picket

Members of the Society of the Garabagh Handicapped, on hunger strike since January 22 demanding end to their social problems, held a picket in front of the Society Monday. The action started at 2 p.m. and was joined by 300 people. Protesters said they would not drop the previously announced demands and urged the government to put an end to the slander and blackmail of the Society and its chairman Etimad Asadov. The handicapped confirmed their determination to go on with the strike until their demands are complied.

Chairman of the Society Etimad Asadov says the authorities have shown no signs of reaction to the strike, which has already affected 600 disabled people.

"If the hunger strike by the Garabagh handicapped yields no fruit, some 10,000 disabled people will join the yet unprecedented protest action", chairman of the Society of the Garabagh handicapped Etimad Asadov told Azernews Saturday. One of such actions can be the rejection of cars and apartments provided by the government, he said but declined to unveil other plans of the society.

According to Mr. Asadov, some 550 members of the Society in most of Azerbaijan's provinces are now taking part in the strike, demanding a two-fold increase in allowances.

The Ministry of Labor and Social Security has said an average allowance of the Garabagh handicapped is twice above country's average, but constitutes only a third of subsistence minimum.

Minister bewildered

Minister for Labor and Social Security Ali Naghiyev has voiced his dewilderment with the hunger strike by the Garabagh handicapped in protest to meager pensions and allowances. Mr. Naghiyev said he had asked the Ministry board to issue a statement in this regard.

According to him, pensions of the handicapped were raised on three occasions last year and the government has regularly taken care of them.

Mr. Naghiyev admitted that in some provinces pensions and allowances delay and promised to sack those responsible for more than 3- month delays.

Opposition parties support protest action of handicapped

A round-table, "Problems of the war-victim families, Garabagh veterans and handicapped. Ways of their solution", were discussed at the "Azadlig" newspaper's office Tuesday on the initiative of the PFPA reform wing. Political parties and public organizations attending the meeting tried to identify ways of ending the indifference to the problems of the handicapped on part of the government.

It is remembered that around 600 members of the Society of the Garabagh Handicapped have been on a hunger strike for 10 days, demanding solution to their social problems.

Most of the speakers agreed that the demands of the handicapped are fair and the government is capable of satisfying them. Deputy chairman of the PNIA Maharram Zulfugarli regarded the indifference of the authorities to the disabled and veterans as a consequence of the communist mode of thinking. Leader of the PFPA reformers Ali Karimov highlighted the importance of protest actions, while chairman of the "Adalat" party's organizing committee Ilyas Ismayilov suggested that MPs from the opposition appeal to the President.