When Justice Mansoor Ali Shah declared that a pension is not a favour but a constitutional right, he exposed one of the state\u2019s most uncomfortable truths: Pakistan guarantees dignity to its servants, but funds it on borrowed time. What began as a safety net has become a fiscal trap, a system that devours resources meant for the future to pay for the past.
\nThe numbers tell the story better than any verdict. This year, the federal government will spend nearly Rs 900 billion on pensions, much, much more than it allocates to development. That figure has been rising by roughly a quarter every year. Across provinces, pension liabilities now rival or exceed salary budgets. In a few short decades, economists warn, these obligations could swallow half of all public expenditure.
\nAt last, Islamabad has recognised the danger. The recently proposed Pension Fund Bill 2024 aims to replace the old pay-as-you-go system with a contributory model in which recruits deposit a share of their salaries, matched by the state, into an independently managed fund. It is a sensible step (long overdue), albeit touching only a fraction of the problem. The millions already retired, and the hundreds of thousands approaching retirement, remain dependent on an unfunded promise. Without parallel reform for existing liabilities, the bill merely slows a runaway train.
\nThis injustice runs deeper than spreadsheets. Teachers, constables, clerks and nurses often wait months for payments, while privileged cadres enjoy early retirements and index-linked increases. In essence, what is most troubling is how this pension crisis speaks volumes about equity and credibility. A state that cannot pay its own retirees on time forfeits moral authority to lecture citizens on fiscal discipline. Still, the beginning of a reform conversation deserves recognition. Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have launched their own contributory schemes, and the digitisation of pension records has reduced ghost payments. These are small but necessary corrections. Yet if reform stops here, it will become another exercise in bureaucratic box-ticking, nothing more than a band-aid on a broken artery.
\nPension reforms need to be comprehensive, transparent and humane. The government must separate entitlement from privilege, convert rhetoric into funded policy, and bring the military and civilian systems under a single actuarial lens. Justice Shah\u2019s reminder was simple: a pension is part of the right to life, and keeping that promise is the test of whether this republic still honours its word.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When Justice Mansoor Ali Shah declared that a pension is not a favour but a constitutional right, he exposed one of the state\u2019s most uncomfortable truths: Pakistan guarantees dignity to its servants, but funds it on borrowed time. What began as a safety net has become a fiscal trap, a system that devours resources meant […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-507064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\n