THE Senior Citizens Bill has been pending in the parliament since 2007 and is not being discussed because of indifference on the part of both the treasury and opposition parliamentarians. However, it is heartening to note from a press report that UNFPA and Help Age International are trying to focus the attention of the media on this all-important issue so that they can support senior citizens and the passage of the long-awaited bill.

Pakistan is perhaps the only country where there are no privileges for senior citizens above 60 years in spite of their population of over 10 million.

Senior citizens have no concessions or facilitation in transport, health, entertainment or even for receipt of their monthly pension to which they get entitled after a lifetime of hard work.

The government has recently introduced the idea of smart card for pensioners by Nadra, but it is yet to be implemented. The position on the ground right now is that there are no facilities or privileges for senior citizens, especially of the lower middle class and the poor.

They have to wait in long queues for receiving their pension and free medical treatment to which they are entitled as retired government employees.

As against this, in developed countries like the US and Europe senior citizens are given special treatment and given their due respect and consideration everywhere. Not only do they give these concessions to their own senior citizens but also to visiting senior citizens who are tourists or visiting friends and relatives.

They are given special concessions in airlines, road transport and rail travel. I have myself availed these concessions during my visits abroad. Senior citizens in those countries are also provided special concessions in all public utilities and even entertainment like cheaper tickets in movie theatres and such other places.

There are separate queues for senior citizens so that they do not have to wait for a long time behind young and fit people.

Unfortunately there are no such facilities or concessions for senior citizens in Pakistan. Parliamentarians and bureaucrats who are dragging feet over the passage of senior citizens bill do not seem to realise that they are senior citizens of tomorrow and their parents and other dear ones may be senior citizens.

It is time the bill was passed by parliament and made a law so that senior citizens are given due consideration and facilities. A recent judgment by the Supreme Court restoring full pension to retired senior citizens at the age of 75 should also be implemented all over the country by all provincial governments.

These actions may also get some extra votes of the senior citizens if the incumbents can pass the senior citizens bill quickly and before elections.

Z. A. Islamabad