Senior citizens demand action to turn legal rights into accessible services

PESHAWAR, Oct 02 (APP):To mark the International Day of Older Persons, Blue Veins organized Rights Orientation and Issues Identification Sessions, where senior citizens gathered with elected representatives and public officials to discuss barriers related to healthcare, financial insecurity, identity documentation, dignity, and to seek responses from institutions responsible for supporting them.

The International Day of Older Persons, observed worldwide on October 1, was designated by the United Nations General Assembly in 1990 to highlight older people’s rights, dignity, contributions and changing needs.

Organized around the 2026 theme, “The Age of Longevity: Rethinking Systems for Longer Lives,” the sessions emphasized the need to adapt healthcare, social protection, income security, housing and accessibility systems so that longer lives are accompanied by dignity and support.

Participants’ concerns brought these priorities into focus through their experiences of accessing services.

Speaking at the occasion, Aiman Jalil, a member of the provincial assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, pledged to raise senior citizens’ concerns on the assembly floor.

“I will raise senior citizens’ concerns on the assembly floor and at every level within my reach, and pursue effective remedies to make their lives easier. I urge senior citizens to know their rights, make their voices heard and seek the support they deserve,” she said.

District Social Welfare Officers Shoaib Khan of Peshawar and Abdul Qadir of Charsadda reaffirmed the department’s commitment to supporting older persons under the Senior Citizens Act through access to welfare services, facilitation desks at banks and hospitals, concessions on medicines and laboratory tests, and mobile registration vehicles to help them obtain identity cards.

Rizwan Ullah Khan, Provincial Coordinator of the National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR), stressed that “Senior citizens deserve respect, protection of their rights and the opportunity to participate in decisions affecting their lives,” he said.

“Their wellbeing and social dignity must remain central to the way institutions respond to their needs” he added

Representatives of the Right to Public Services (RTS) Commission were present and explained the role of their department.

“Forum members should know which public services are available to them and raise concerns when they face delays, using the commission’s mechanisms to seek timely delivery of notified services,” the representatives said.

Qamar Naseem, Program Manager at Blue Veins, said these inequalities needed to be recognised in the design and delivery of services.

“Older persons have the right to dignity, healthcare, financial security, access to information and participation in public life. But ageing is also deeply gendered,” he said. “For many older women, inequalities accumulated throughout life do not disappear with age.”

Applauding the efforts of Blue Veins in establishing the senior citizen forums across Charsadda and Peshawar, Members of the forum said the forums give older persons a regular platform to speak for themselves, document their concerns and follow up on commitments made by public institutions.

Participants at the session emphasized the differential challenges faced by older women: restricted mobility, limited control over property and resources, and social isolation can make it harder to obtain support.

There was a call for gender-responsive services for older women and effective implementation of the entitlements in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Senior Citizen Act 2014 to ensure that Older People live a dignified and Healthy Life.