PU: Pensioners’ plight & institutional failure

THE ongoing plight of pensioners at the University of Peshawar represents a deeply troubling humanitarian crisis — one that demands immediate attention from both government authorities and the university administration. For reasons that remain disturbingly unclear, retired employees have reportedly been denied their pensions, causing severe financial hardship and emotional distress among one of society’s most vulnerable groups. Pension is not a privilege. It is a fundamental right, earned through decades of honest and dedicated service. Employees of public institutions spend the prime years of their lives working under strict rules and regulations, often forgoing alternative sources of income, sustained by a single assurance: that upon retirement, they will be afforded financial security. To deny or delay this right is not merely an administrative failing — it is a serious breach of institutional trust and a violation of the social contract between an employer and those who have served it faithfully. The human face of this crisis is impossible to ignore. Most of the affected pensioners are over the age of 60. Many are frail, in declining health and increasingly dependent on medical care. At this stage of life, both physical resilience and emotional fortitude are diminished. The uncertainty caused by the non-payment of pensions has exposed them to chronic anxiety, depression and a deepening sense of abandonment. For a great many, their pension is their sole source of income. During their years of service, these men and women planned their futures with care and dignity. They educated their children, fulfilled family obligations and managed their households on the quiet confidence that a stable pension awaited them in retirement. The sudden disruption of that financial lifeline has shattered those expectations entirely, leaving many in a state of helplessness and despair that no retired public servant should ever be made to endure. The consequences of prolonged financi