MY mother passed away in July last year. Due to the recently introduced government notification, we were compelled to initiate a lengthy legal process to get the funds released that were deposited in the National Savings in my mother’s name.

As my brother resides in Malaysia, I got a power of attorney from him and appeared in the relevant court on his behalf. Finally, after nearly five months, we were allowed to get the cheques in our respective names. But now another issue has arisen.

One of the cheques issued is in the name of my brother, who is not here. There is no bank account in his name in Pakistan, and he cannot travel to Pakistan due to Covid-19 restrictions and other issues, which was the precise reason he issued a power of attorney in my name.

Currently, there is no way a bank account can be opened in Pakistan in my brother’s name without his physical presence in the country.

Either a way should be devised for overseas Pakistanis to open bank accounts in the country through their respective embassies, or a feature should be added to the recently-launched Roshan Digital accounts whereby crossed cheques, specifically government credit instruments, are allowed to be deposited in these accounts.

Ayaz Farid Farooqi
Karachi

Published in Dawn, January 15th, 2021