Pakistan Post has revised the rulebook for how its pensioners prove they are alive, and the new system is almost entirely digital. In a letter circulated to offices from Rawalpindi, the department’s Directorate of Accounts issued a fresh Standard Operating Procedure for pension disbursement: pensioners must now complete their proof of life through Nadra every six months, and family pensioners whose entitlement depends on marital status must file a non-marriage or non-remarriage certificate.
The announcement matters because it brings one of the country’s largest pension-dispensing networks into line with the federal government’s September overhaul, which stripped commercial banks of any role in biometric verification and handed the job to Nadra. That earlier reform covered more than three million civilian and military pensioners; Pakistan Post’s move now closes the loop for its own pension rolls.
What the new six-monthly rule actually requires
Under the revised SOP, proof of life can be completed through the Nadra Pak ID mobile app, at authorised Nadra registration centres, through Nadra mobile units, at e-Sahulat franchises, or at bank branches and mobile apps that operate as authorised Nadra centres. The six-monthly cycle replaces the older pattern of fixed March and September verification windows, so pensioners can verify at any point within the six-month period. Because much of the verification runs through mobile channels, it is worth confirming which numbers are active on your CNIC: pensioners can verify SIM owner details linked to their identity before relying on a phone for the process.
If a pensioner’s pension continues only on the condition of a particular marital status, a non-marriage or non-remarriage certificate verified by the relevant union council must be submitted to the pension facilitation centre. Where Nadra’s records do not carry updated marital-status information, an alternative prescribed procedure can be used instead.
The second leg of September’s bank-free reform
The September reform, issued by the Finance Division on the prime minister’s directives, was the bigger shock: banks were told they would no longer verify pensioners’ proof of life at all. Instead, Nadra transmits a “Digital Life Signal” straight to the Controller General of Accounts and the Military Accountant General through a secure application programming interface, bypassing banking channels entirely. Banks now function purely as pension disbursement agencies, and they are barred from marking pension accounts dormant for pension processing.
Under that system, missing six months of verification puts a pension into suspense rather than dormancy, and the moment a valid life signal arrives, the account reactivates and withheld arrears are released automatically. Pakistan Post’s new SOP adopts the same logic for its pensioners: verification through Nadra, digital wherever possible, manual only where genuinely needed. Pension payments themselves continue to flow directly into bank accounts, whose rupee value fluctuates with the USD to PKR exchange rate today as in the rest of our business and economy coverage.
The manual fallback for the elderly and overseas pensioners
The new procedure does not leave everyone to the mercy of a smartphone. Pensioners who lack digital access, or cannot be verified because of extreme old age or medical reasons, can submit a manual life certificate on Form No. 10. Pensioners living abroad use Form No. 11, and family pensioners abroad use Form No. 12 for their declarations.
This matters because biometric identity systems only work when people can actually reach them, and fraud is a live concern in the identity space: Pakistan recently saw a major biometric SIM-swap fraud crackdown after cases involving lawmakers. The manual forms, submitted at pension facilitation centres rather than banks, keep the fallback human while cutting banks out of the verification chain entirely.
What happens next
The Pakistan Post Directorate of Accounts has directed all concerned offices to inform pensioners about the new procedure, so the next contact most pensioners get about it will likely come from their local post office rather than from a bank. No separate deadline has been announced for the first verification cycle under the new SOP, and pensions will continue to be credited directly into bank accounts as before.
The direction of travel is unmistakable: proof of life is becoming a data signal between Nadra and the state’s accountants, not a queue at a bank counter. For pensioners, the practical advice stays simple: verify through the Pak ID app or an authorised centre within the six months, and file the right form, Form 10, 11 or 12, if you cannot.
