Necessary exemption

This refers to the letter ‘Senior biometrics’ (June 27, 2019) by Mohammad Azam. The writer has brought out a very pertinent point regarding the difficulties being faced by senior citizens in going through the biometric procedures in banks, Nadra, getting mobile SIMs etc. More often than not long queues of people are seen waiting for their turn in banks especially after the State Bank had issued instructions to all banks to complete biometric verification for their account holders. Some banks have even frozen individual accounts till the mandatory biometric is not undergone. The procedure becomes more frustrating for young people who have to wait for considerably long time if senior citizens happen to be ahead of them as they have to go through the procedure repeatedly. With age, the fingerprints of elderly people become so faint that they are not readable by biometric machines, a fact well known to all involved in getting these procedures done. About a year back on a visit to UK at the Heathrow airport, I was pleasantly surprised when the immigration officer after looking at the details in my passport let me go without conducting any biometric. On enquiry I was told that senior citizens are exempt from this as their fingerprints are not sensed by biometric machines.My question is: why can’t the State Bank and Nadra invoke the same for senior citizens in Pakistan? Is it necessary to make the elderly go through this inconvenience? Software changes can be incorporated in the bank accounts of senior citizens which automatically waive the biometric requirement for such individuals. May I therefore request the governor of the State Bank of Pakistan as well as Nadra to issue instructions to all banks and other agencies exempting people over 65 years of age from mandatory biometric procedure at banks etc? This will not only relieve the elderly from great inconvenience but will also reduce the work load of bank officials.Group Captain (r) Saeed Nawaz KhanRawalpindi

from The News International - Newspost https://ift.tt/2KP6hhL