LAHORE: The Punjab government has started issuing Himmat cards to 29,768 special children in Punjab from Monday onwards, with the first step in a welfare campaign that the Special Education Department claims intends to make the disabled children financially independent and socially inclusive.
The Special Assistant to the Chief Minister on Special Education, Sania Ashiq, chaired the ceremony held at the Maryam Nawaz Centre of Excellence in Okara, where 96 students got their cards in front of their parents, teachers, and department officials. The Secretary and Director General of Special Education accompanied Ashiq at the event.
Himmat Card Punjab Rollout
The Himmat Card functions as a financial and services access tool for eligible children with special needs. Ashiq told the gathering that the Punjab government designed the card to give special children a tangible instrument of self-reliance rather than leaving welfare delivery dependent on institutional intermediaries. “Our endeavour is to provide the best possible facilities to these children,” she said, adding that Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif and her team shared the same concern for these children as their own parents.
Punjab Himmat Card Scheme
Beyond the card itself, Ashiq outlined a broader package of support the provincial government currently extends to special children. The government supplies fortified biscuits and protein-enriched milk daily to 45,000 special children across Punjab, and also provides assistive devices and therapy services. She announced that the government plans to establish satellite campuses of autism schools in every division of Punjab, a step intended to bring assessment and therapy services within practical reach of families who currently travel long distances for specialist care.
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Officials at the ceremony described the Centre of Excellence in Okara as a facility whose standards match the better-equipped special education institutions in the province, pointing to it as a model for the government’s broader push toward inclusive education and rehabilitation infrastructure outside Lahore.
Maryam Nawaz Himmat Card Initiative
The Himmat Card initiative sits within a wider welfare framework the Punjab government has been rolling out under Maryam Nawaz Sharif since she took office. Special education has emerged as one of the departments the Chief Minister’s office has kept under close supervision, with Monday’s ceremony marking the formal beginning of card distribution rather than a pilot phase the 29,768 beneficiaries represent the full first tranche of eligible children the department identified across Punjab’s districts.
Ashiq also referenced the federal government’s broader development agenda, noting that the welfare programmes running at the provincial level complement the national direction set under Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
For families of children with disabilities in Punjab, the practical test of the initiative will come in the weeks ahead as distribution moves beyond Okara to the remaining districts. The department has not yet published a district-wise rollout schedule or a detailed breakdown of the card’s financial benefits, information that advocacy groups working with special children say they need before they can assess the programme’s real reach.
