ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan has invalidated a circular issued by the Sindh government that denied pension rights to divorced daughters following the death of their pensioner fathers. The court ruled the circular as unconstitutional and without legal standing from its inception.
In a detailed 10-page judgment authored by Justice Ayesha Malik, the apex court dismissed the Sindh government’s appeal, asserting that such a circular cannot legally bar a living daughter from receiving her deceased father’s pension based solely on her marital status.
A two-member bench, headed by Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, emphasized that Pakistan’s international obligations under human rights conventions uphold the principle that economic entitlements, like pensions, must not be denied to women due to their marital status.
The bench further clarified that the provision of pensions to daughters is based on financial need, not whether they are married, unmarried, or divorced. The judgment cited examples from other countries such as India, where disabled children are entitled to lifelong family pensions, and Bangladesh, where social security schemes provide for widowed and divorced daughters, and in some cases, even dependent grandsons.
The verdict highlighted that the timely disbursement of pensions is not merely an administrative function but a constitutional duty. It raised serious concern over the discriminatory notion that a daughter’s right to pension should hinge on her marital condition, labeling this as institutional bias.
The court criticized the underlying assumption that daughters are financially dependent on their fathers until marriage and on their husbands afterward. This view, it noted, wrongly presumes that only unmarried or divorced women face financial hardships while overlooking the vulnerabilities of married women.
The court concluded that denying pension rights on the basis of marital status is discriminatory, unconstitutional, and in violation of Articles 14, 25, and 27 of the Constitution, which guarantee dignity, equality before the law, and non-discrimination in public service.
