The old are among the most vulnerable in any society as they are usually dependent on others for daily chores and have limited to no income. Therefore, the older the person the more is the significance of pension to him/her. It is the responsibility of society to take care of the elderly and the government to ensure that the elderly have the resources available to meet ends. I retired from government service in 1969 after putting in 27 years of work. One would imagine that the government would be more mindful of the few living retirees of pre-1970, who are now in their nineties, but the reality is otherwise. There have been commissions and task forces in the past to investigate the pensions of retirees.

However, for some reason, they focused on those who retired after 1970 even though salaries and pensions were drastically lower pre-1970. According to news, the current government has formed a commission headed by a former finance secretary to make recommendations on the pension of retired government employees. I would like to draw the attention of the government and the chairman of this commission to seriously consider the handful of those who retired in December 1969 or earlier. These are the people in most need of support and a substantial raise in their meagre pensions is warranted. This would have a negligible financial impact on the government but a huge impact on the retirees who are entirely dependent on their pensions.

RAJA SHAFAATULLAH,

Islamabad.