Pakistan has barred banks from blocking or deactivating pensioners’ accounts

The Government of Pakistan has changed the biometric verification and life certificate system for pensioners to save them from repeated visits to banks and long queues.

Under the new initiative, the Ministry of Finance has introduced a new digital framework for civil and military pensioners. Banks will no longer be responsible for biometric verification, and the entire process has been handed over to NADRA. In addition to NADRA centres, more than 5,000 ‘e-Sahulat’ centres have been activated across the country. For sick and disabled pensioners, NADRA will also provide verification services at their homes through mobile vans and a biker service. This raises an important question: why did the federal government feel the need to introduce these new measures for pensioners?

The main reason for this major change in the pension system is to reduce the serious administrative and physical difficulties faced by elderly citizens. According to experts, under the previous system, sick and disabled pensioners aged 70 or 80 and above had to visit banks twice a year, even in extreme weather conditions. Because of old age, many pensioners lose the clarity of their fingerprints, causing biometric verification to fail on bank devices. When verification was delayed or failed, banks would often deactivate or block their accounts. As a result, the monthly pensions of elderly citizens could remain stuck for months, causing financial difficulties in purchasing medicines and meeting other basic needs.

Experts also believe that the old paper-based system was vulnerable to irregularities and corruption. In several cases, fake pension payments were reportedly withdrawn even after the death of a pensioner, allegedly with the involvement of bank or other staff.

The new system, based on NADRA’s direct and live digital database, could help eliminate much of this paperwork. NADRA has a comprehensive system for recording deaths, which can help prevent fraudulent pension withdrawals and save public money.

Although the initiative to free pensioners from repeated visits to banks is being welcomed, experts have also raised concerns about NADRA’s ability to handle the system effectively. They say that the uninterrupted operation of the Pak-ID app and NADRA’s digital systems will be essential to manage the records of millions of civil and military pensioners.  Otherwise, even a minor technical issue or delay in the system could potentially result in the suspension of pensions for elderly citizens.