Introduction

Pension and affluence represent two different financial lifestyles. A pension is an amount that a person receives after his retirement to meet his financial needs in old age. It is a safe financial system. It frees a person from worrying about the future. Luxury is generally referred to as a lifestyle in which a person makes unnecessary expenses to improve his current situation. For example, food in expensive hotels, expensive clothes, travel in expensive cars, etc.

 

 

This was some time before the 2018 elections. Former Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa called a group of journalists for a briefing on national security and said during the conversation that I know what your late night activities are. Hearing this, some of the journalists there looked at each other with questioning eyes and then a colleague rounded the matter by saying that these activities have nothing to do with national security.

After a while, Bajwa Sahib turned his finger towards me and said that I also know which foreign ambassadors you meet.

After a while, Bajwa Sahib turned his finger towards me and said that I also know which foreign ambassadors you meet. Hearing this, I smiled and immediately replied, “Sir, we meet the same ambassadors as you do; the only difference is that you invite them yourself and we meet them on their invitation.”

Bajwa Sahib was not used to hearing such answers. He changed his mind and said that I also know how much salary you get. Then he himself gave a bite and said that your salary is more than mine. When I opened my tongue to speak, Bajwa said yes, yes, you will say that my privileges are very high. Personnel are more, but your income is greater. A colleague respectfully submitted that, sir! Each person entered the media industry twenty or thirty years in the past. Simply as you have long gone from captain to preferred and your earnings have improved, our income has additionally increased during the last 20-30 years, and regularly TV anchors are paid according to the rankings of their indicates because the suggests with higher scores are on the complete channel. Once again, Bajwa Sahib did not like the answer and changed the subject, but a passionate colleague looked at me and said that General Sahab will get a huge pension after retirement and we will not get anything.

General Bajwa often had wrong information about the salary of TV anchors, so one day one of our anchor friends took the salary slip with him to prove him wrong. A few days later, during the hearing of a case, the then Chief Justice Saqib Nisar also raised the issue of anchors’ salaries. He was told that huge income tax is deducted from the salaries of all anchors, and they regularly declare their income and assets in income tax returns.If someone has made a false statement, get an inquiry from FBR. If they were not satisfied, they asked me to bring the salary slip on the next appearance. I took my full bank account details to the next appearance and presented them to the Chief Justice in a packed court.

I am narrating these incidents to you because a few days ago the IMF placed before the government of Pakistan a list of government employees who are receiving heavy pensions.

That is the listing that became provided within the national assembly. in keeping with this list, former leader Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry acquired eleven lakh sixty-six thousand rupees in 2023, Saqib Nisar 1 million seventy-three thousand rupees, Sheikh Riaz 16 lakh, Umar Atta Bandial 9 lakh 23 thousand, Abdul Hameed Dogar 14 lakh, and Nasir Mulk.

Received 11 lakh 20 thousand rupees as monthly pension.

According to this list, the pension of many retired Supreme Court and High Court judges is between 10 lakh and 14 lakh rupees per month. Many retired bureaucrats are receiving pensions of over Rs 5 lakh. The IMF is concerned that 1014 billion rupees have been earmarked for pensions in the new budget this year, and the pension was also increased by 15%. The notable aspect is that the junior government employees get very little pension after retirement, and the 15% increase in pension does not benefit them much.

This gain will go to the retired judges, generals, and senior officers who already receive lakhs of rupees per month as pension. among them, there are some who receive double pensions. Dr. Ahsan Rana, a trainer of social policy in Limz Lahore, has written an ebook titled “Hin Quakab Kuch,” in which he has completed a study of Pakistan’s economy and society with confirmed information.

With the permission of his friend Brigadier (Rtd) Sajid Hameed, he has presented the example of him in the book, who is receiving not one but three pensions. A pension he is receiving from the army. After his retirement from the army, he was associated with the Pakistan Hockey Federation for ten years. The second pension is received from the Hockey Federation. The third pension is being received from the Old Age Benefit Institution (EOBI). Dr. Ahsan Rana has presented a charge sheet against Pakistan’s ruling elite, which receives billions if not trillions of rupees in subsidies every year and siphons off a fraction through an unfair pension system.

The purpose of a pension is to live a dignified life after retirement, not to live a life of luxury in the name of a pension. In order to end luxury in the name of pension, the Shahbaz Sharif government is bringing a scheme of reforms in the pension system under which newly recruited employees in some sectors will get pension only for ten years after retirement.

Reforms in the pension system are the need of the hour, but these reforms should be clear and transparent. The National Assembly should not only list the pensions of retired judges and bureaucrats but should also mention the pension and other benefits of General Bajwa.