THE country’s leading economic research and policy institution, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, Islamabad, seems to have run out of funds to pay its pensioners who have not been paid for two months. As a result a little more than 100 retired PIDE employees and their families are going through very hard times.

A respectable name in academia, PIDE has nurtured the careers of many social scientists of distinction, while functioning as a key centre of research and training in Pakistan. The present pensioners at PIDE created the public-sector university that provides skilled manpower to the whole country. It has also been known as a good paymaster.

The PIDE, which is funded by the government, has not received sufficient funds from the planning ministry to pay pensioners since July while employees are receiving their salaries.

The pensioners who are passing the end of their lives on these meagre resources urge PIDE authorities and the prime minister to address their pleas.

Muhammad Aslam
Islamabad

Published in Dawn, September 21st, 2020