THIS is with reference to the letter `Flawed Pal(ID 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, banl( branches and cellular service providers routinely refuse to honour these directives, constantly re-directing helpless elderly citizens bacl( to Nadra.

Furthermore, the Pal(ID App`s proof-oflife verification feature remains arbitrarily restricted, catering primarily to those receiving pensions from either the office of the Accountant-General Pal(istan Revenues (AGPR) or armed forces.

Autonomous bodies, lil(e the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) and state institutions, like Pal(istan Railways, are not covered by thisfacility.

To compound matters, banl( branches are now refusing to accept physical proof-oflife 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 accountfreezes and being denied access to their rightful pensions.

The State Bank of Pal(istan (SBP), Nadra and the Ministry of Finance should urgently intervene. Banl(s 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