LAHORE, Feb 3: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has voiced concern over lack of legislation in public interest, especially the government’s apathy towards the approval of the Senior Citizens Bill pending for the past many years.

“The government is not at all serious in the welfare of the people,” HRCP Director I.A. Rehman said while talking to Dawn on Sunday.

The government did announce provision of special facilities in the sectors of health, social security and travelling but nothing actually happened, he added. “Other countries have laws on concessions for senior citizens because they respect people,” he added.

The government, despite being a signatory in the United Nations conference to provide benefits to the elderly, had persistently ignored and almost shelved the proposed bill wanting enactment since 2006, said a spokesman of the Senior Citizens Foundation of Pakistan.

“Time and again efforts have been made to have the bill passed but neither the previous nor the interim government budged on the subject despite the fact that we have almost over eight million elderly people in Pakistan,” the spokesman added. “Actually, the bill is pending with the government for the last eight years. It has been tossed around from one department to another, between the parliamentary committees, and finally now resting in the Prime Minister’s Secretariat for cabinet approval without any fruitful result for the last more than eighteen months,” the spokesman said.

The pending bill contains a framework for welfare of senior citizens including better health facilities, old age benefits and financial assistance. “The poor healthcare for the senior citizens is one of the most important issues as expensive medicines, separate counters and even separate wards in hospitals for greater care of the senior citizens are some of the matters needing immediate attention,” he said. —Reporter