I AM a 70-year-old senior citizen, a retired employee of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). I went to the North Nazimabad mega centre of the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) in Karachi on April 20 for my CNIC renewal. My sister, two years senior and a retired professor of Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology (FUUAST), accompanied me for verification.

We were informed by Nadra staff that neither my sister`s fingerprints nor mine were detectable. They, however, arranged some alternative means for verification, and informed us that the CNIC would be ready in a weak. I contacted Nadra`s Islamabad office after a weak, and, to my utter surprise, I was informed that there was some issue with my fingerprints. I was advised to visit the mega centre again. It was not easy for me to manage the commute, but I had no choice.

The staff simply wrote on the receipt that I was a senior citizen, and asked me to submit its copy to the Nadra Facilitation Centre. I did that. When I contacted the Islamabad centre again, there was more bad new in store. To my horror, I was told that the application had been permanently rejected. I was advised to visit the Nadra office again for either reprocessing the case or for some other action that might be deemed fit bythe official in charge of the mega centre.

Nadra is facilitating the younger lot by offering them online facility as their fingerprints appear easily. What have the senior citizens done to deserve such maltreatment by Nadra? It is known globally that senior citizens` fingerprints do not appear easily on biometric devices and machines. I have received multiple visas to foreign countries despite thefingerprint issue. Even in Pakistan, banks accept medical certificates from pensioners if fingerprints do not appear on their systems. Why is it beyond Nadra`s capacity to understand the biological wear and tear of fingerprints? Why should senior citizens suffer on this count? Maheen Fatima Karachi