KARACHI, Nov 7: The automated teller machines cards issued by the National, Muslim Commercial and Habib banks did not operate on Tuesday, Wednesday and till afternoon on Thursday, apparently to afford the banks an opportunity to swoop on the card-holders’ accounts to deduct Zakat on the money in their savings accounts that somehow could not be taken care of on time.

Many people with ATM cards, a facility allowing its holders to draw money from the machines installed by the banks at certain places, complained that the machines had stopped responding to inquiries and requests for money on Tuesday afternoon.

“I thought that the machine at the PIDC had gone out of order, and rushed to the NBP head office. But there, too, the same message appeared to every inquiry fed into the machine,” said a card-holder. “The message invariably read ‘This transaction cannot be performed right now’.”

The cards, however, could be operated soon after the non-appearance of the moon was announced on Tuesday. The operations continued till noon on Wednesday and then went off again.

The ATM cards did not function till the banks’ closing time on the first of Ramazan, when Zakat is recovered from the saving accounts of Sunni Muslims. But the ATM machines made no distinction on sectarian or religious grounds and all were made to suffer.

Few want Zakat deducted from their accounts. On the submission of certain declarations they are exempted from the deduction. But some banks do not accept such declarations after the first of Shaaban. The others, sympathetic to their customers, accept them, effective from a back date, or accommodate them otherwise.

“It is illegal to deprive us of the facility of ATM cards, even though temporarily,” said a holder of ATM card. — NA