Elderly heroes

On the 1st of October every year the whole world celebrates the International Day of Older People. In Pakistan we have an institution known as the Senior Citizens Foundation of Pakistan (SCFP) with a head office in Islamabad. I am the elected president of this Foundation.
We hold regular meetings on the last Wednesday of every month in Islamabad. We have a small rented office, but efforts to find a permanent place have, so far, not been very successful. We do not have the necessary funds and the government considers us mere excess baggage to be ignored. Since we are mostly retired senior government officials, we discuss all matters related to our country.
We also celebrated the International Day of Older People on October 1 this year in the auditorium of the Pakistan Academy of Sciences (which I managed to get built while president of the PAS). H.M. Chohan is the secretary general of the SCFP. He too is a former senior government official with decades of experience, and is very competent and always punctual. Every year we select one or two prominent citizens as ‘distinguished citizens’ in recognition of their work. This year we elected Adviser to the PM on Foreign AffairsS artaj Aziz, and Abdul Rashid Khan Baloch, a prominent lawyer. Both gentlemen have served Pakistan with distinction.
Shahina Maqbool wrote an excellent article in The News on October 1, 2016 covering this important day. The title, ‘In Pakistan old age means being in the throes of joblessness, poor health, loss of control over life’, speaks volumes of truth about the pathetic situation of elderly people living in Pakistan. The writerdiscussed the background of this day and also compared the treatment elderly people receive in the West and in Pakistan.
Having lived in Europe for about 15 years, I have seen how caring their state institutions are towards the elderly. They have adopted most of the traditions we used to follow in the olden days. In the West, governments take a keen interest in the welfare and wellbeing of their senior citizens. They are provided with good pensions and low or zero taxes. Free or reduced tickets are available for buses, trams, railways airlines, sports, concerts, etc.
Old people’s homes are made comfortable with a congenial atmosphere. They are like four-star hotels, if not five-star. There they find people of their own age, often with the same interests. That makes life easier and more comfortable for them. Unfortunately, rising costs have often led to insufficient care-giving staff. Young people are extremely polite to older people, giving up their seats in buses, trams, etc (as they do too to those who are physically challenged) and giving them right of way when they are moving around.
We know that the Almighty has given strict instruction that elderly parents are to be taken care of and that the young generation should respect their elders. Unfortunately, despite these divine edicts, our rulers and the well-to-do are least bothered about the comforts or needs of the elderly. Our governments spend billions of rupees on show-piece developments, but no money is spent on the welfare of older people. As a matter of fact, increased taxes and reduced interest rates are a curse for the elderly, often leading to a hand-to-mouth existence.
The government has slowly but surely implemented investment policies making investment unattractive. In some provinces the Senior Citizens Bill has been lying forgotten in drawers gathering dust for years, whereas bills to loot the national exchequer are passed in a jiffy. The governments of Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have managed to pass this bill, but Punjab, Balochistan, Islamabad Capital Territory and the federal government are not interested in it.
Our finance minister is very good at levelling large negatives and small positives. He recently gave a 25 percent increase in pension to those over 85 and 10 percent to people between 60 and 85. How many people in Pakistan actually reach 85? Are those under 85 less in need? Had he put the limit at 75, then at least some people could have benefitted for a few years.
Medicines, especially life-saving drugs, are very expensive and then too, very often, spurious. There is no relief for the elderly; they have to pay the full price as government hospitals are in a shambles – dirty, lacking in sufficient staff, devoid of medicines, etc. My colleagues and I want to put up a free, state-of-the-art 300-bed charity hospital in Lahore but are at the mercy of a government official and thick red tape. We were promised the lease of the land in February, but no luck so far. I have written to the PM as well as to the CM of Punjab, but again without any luck or response.
We have more than eleven million people in Pakistan older than 60 and this number will be doubled within a few years. Yet there is no government planning for any easing of their dilemma. The latest Global Competitive Report has named Pakistan a mismanaged and corrupt country. Our economy is in a shambles and our education system is equally so. All those in charge should keep in mind that they will be held responsible for their deeds (often misdeeds) to the Almighty and that His chastisement is severe and painful.
Tailpiece:       While the country is facing a dangerous situation, Imran Khan is playing games with its fate. Spending millions of man hours in fruitless sit-ins and protests, he is distancing a large section of the population while his actions are causing a lot of inconvenience to many people. He is always giving examples of European leaders; then he should also try to emulate them.
Following their traditions, should he lose the 2018 elections, he should resign from party leadership and go back to the Shaukat Khanum Hospital. But then, he is not one to listen to advice and works only according to his own whims.

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