I HAVE been maintaining three joint bank accounts with the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) branch in Lahore (No 1858) for over a decade. I am the primary account holder of all the three accounts, while my wife is secondary or joint account holder. Recently, all the three bank accounts — for US dollar, pound sterling and Pakistan rupee (PKR) — were de-activated without any notice due to the expiry of my wife’s National Identity Card for Overseas Pakistanis (Nicop).

I and my wife have health issues and have not been able to visit the Pakistani consulate in Dubai to apply for Nicop renewal. My PKR account is a regular transaction account and I use it to make online payments for utilities, taxes and salaries, etc. I requested the bank to activate my account so that I could make some important payments, but the bank refused to help even though my own Nicop was valid until 2034, and I happened to be the primary account holder.

I mentioned to the bank’s operations manager that my wife’s passport was valid up to Aug 15, 2029, which is a solid proof of her identification, and it should be accepted temporarily for about two months by the bank until we get her Nicop re-newed. But the bank, or at least its official, was not interested.

The bank’s higher authorities need to look into the matter. In my opinion, de-activating bank accounts of overseas senior Pakistani citizens like us is neither helping the bank nor the customers. And, frankly speaking, it is not helping Pakistan either.

Ejaz Ahmad Magoon
Dubai, UAE

Published in Dawn, June 14th, 2026