ISLAMABAD: A Qatar Airways flight lost my wheelchair and I left struggling at the airport, a disabled woman and rights activist, Maria Qureshi said.
While talking with Daily Ausaf, Maria Qureshi said, she arrived at Islamabad Airport from Doha, Qatar, on February 16 at 2:00 am and upon arrival found her wheelchair missing.
“I booked my foldable wheelchair along with my other luggage from Bangkok Airport,” she said, adding that I traveled on Qatar Airways Flight QR 839 from Bangkok to Doha, followed by QR 632 from Doha to Islamabad.
Qureshi, who also runs an Islamabad-based National Forum of Women With Disabilities, said, “I was horrified and worried to learn that my wheelchair was lost as I have a spinal cord injury and am unable to move due to paralysis in the lower part of my body.”
“The airline staff at the airport wasn’t apologetic at all,” Qureshi lamented, adding, that they only said that the wheelchair might have been left at Bangkok airport and we’re working to retrieve it.
Sharing her experience, she said for someone who is entirely dependent on a wheelchair, this situation caused immense physical and mental distress. “The unapologetic behavior from the staff made me more angry and painful.”
“My wheelchair is not just a tool—it’s an essential part of my independence. My body was used to that wheelchair and my body can’t fit on any other wheelchair. I struggled at the airport and home as I had to spend my whole day in bed,” she said.
Maria said that the situation got worse after I received a message from an unknown number asking me to update a compensation form which included the queries related to my personal and banking details.
“The message from an unofficial contact number rankled me and responded to them to contact me with their official Email to avoid scamming,” she told Daily Ausaf.
However, after days of complaining, she said, a Qatar Airways official contacted me to collect the wheelchair from Islamabad Airport, which “they should have dropped at my place as it was negligence at their end”.
Maria Qureshi, who was in Bangkok to participate in the Asian Regional Disability Summit, demanded compensation from Qatar Airways for severe physical and emotional distress.
Maria runs an Islamabad-based National Forum of Women With Disabilities, a National Network of Disabled People’s Organizations (DPOs), to ensure full and equal inclusion and participation of women with disabilities in the development process.
