I am a disabled pensioner over 86 years old. I retired from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 15th March in 1991 (PPO No. IBD/PN-1/5584/PR). I am now facing considerable financial hardships. Like me, other old pensioners over 85 years old are a weak, ailing and a diminishing community. A formidable increase in the prices of edibles and others items of daily use have made our lives more miserable. The Government employees who had retired 25 years ago are the worst sufferers of pension benefits as the pay scales that existed at that times were very low. It will not be out of place to mention here that the judgment of Lahore High Court stipulated that the restoration of pension means the pension would be doubled the amount of 50 percent the respondents are already drawing. The judgment was upheld by the Apex Court, thus A A Zubairi and Syed Abrar Hussain Naqvi have been paid full pension arrears by AGPR .However, the same principle has been denied in my case. The impugned action by the Finance Division and AGPR is highly discriminatory although Article 25 of constitution guarantees equal treatment to all pensioners. They also ignored 2009 SCMR-1. It is appealed to the Prime Minister and Finance Minister to consider the plight of old pensioners over 85 years old and grant at least 40 percent increase in their pension in the forthcoming budget.
Aijaz Ahmad Azad
Islamabad
