ISLAMABAD – The overseas Pakistanis have so far contributed around onebillion rupees to The Supreme Court of Pakistan and the Prime Minister ofPakistan Diamer-Bhasha and Mohmand Dams Fund, reveals the State Bank ofPakistan (SBP) data.
According to the SBP, as of December 06, around Rs8.46 billion have so farbeen deposited by the local as well as expatriate Pakistanis to support theconstruction of dams since July 6. Of total donations, Rs0.99 billion wasdonated by the expatriates, while the local Pakistani individuals andinstitutions gave away Rs7.47 billion.
Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar, who took the initiative of fundcollection, launched the fund on July 6 which was later joined by PrimeMinister Imran Khan, making it joint venture to overcome the country’swater scarcity.
The overseas Pakistanis were passionately contributing to the nationalcause after the prime minister appealed to the estimated nine millionoverseas Pakistanis, particularly those living in European countries andthe United States, to contribute at least $1,000 per head to the noblecause, and warned that Pakistan could face famine-like conditions by 2025if new water reservoirs were not built now. He also asked Pakistanis forgenerous donations.
The CJP also visited UK for fundraiser to avert the looming threat whichmay invite drought in Pakistan in coming years. Around $14 billion isrequired for the construction of the Diamer-Bhasha dam.
Within Pakistan, the contributions were made through cheques, cash andmobile phone message service. An amount of Rs125 million was receivedthrough the SMS services of the four cellular companies operating inPakistan.
The overseas Pakistanis transmitted their donations through debit andcredit cards and in the SBP Nostro account and commercial banks overseas.Most of the foreign donations came from Pakistanis living in the UnitedStates which is around around Rs362 million while those in Britain gavearound Rs214 million. Pakistanis in Canada donated Rs107 million.
Other major donations were made by overseas Pakistanis residing in SaudiArabia and Qatar (around Rs40 million each), Switzerland (Rs32 million),United Arab Emirates (Rs65 million) and others.