THIS is with reference to the letter ‘Flawed PakID app’ (Sept 27). The hardships being faced by senior citizens and pensioners due to ill-conceived digital verification systems and bureaucratic apathy are serious and condemnable. As people age, their fingerprints naturally wear down and become difficult to capture. While the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) previously acknowledged this matter, and issued guidelines exempting individuals with diminished fingerprints from biometric verification, bank branches and cellular service providers routinely refuse to honour these directives, constantly re-directing helpless elderly citizens back to Nadra.

Furthermore, the PakID App’s proof-of-life verification feature remains arbitrarily restricted, catering primarily to those receiving pensions from either the office of the Accountant-General Pakistan Revenues (AGPR) or armed forces. Autonomous bodies, like the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) and state institutions, like Pakistan Railways, are not covered by this facility.

To compound matters, bank branches are now refusing to accept physical proof-of-life certificates altogether, claiming they are no longer authorised to do so. This leaves nonagenarians, widows and frail retirees trapped in a bureaucratic loop, facing sudden account freezes and being denied access to their rightful pensions.

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Nadra and the Ministry of Finance should urgently intervene. Banks must be instructed to continue with their physical proof-of-life arrangements until digital, accessible and inclusive alternatives are fully operational across all pension types.

Dr Syed Ghazanfar Abbas
Islamabad

Published in Dawn, October 11th, 2026