CJP’s dams donation drive fails to woo overseas Pakistanis

Out of Rs1.93 billion, only Rs20 million has been donated by countrymen living abroad

ISLAMABAD: Out of Rs1.93 billion, donated to the Chief Justice’s Fund for the construction of dams, Rs1.91 billion was donated domestically.

According to data available till September 6, a total Rs1.93 billion has been donated so far. Interestingly, only Rs20 million has been donated by overseas Pakistanis while the remaining Rs1.91 billion was raised locally.

Pakistanis donated Rs0.9 million through debit and credit cards while Rs53 million through SMS and Rs32 million through IBFT. Likewise RS1.82 billion has been donated in the bank branches in specific accounts across the country.



Overseas Pakistanis from United States donated Rs5.7 million followed by UK from where Pakistanis donated Rs4.19 million. Pakistanis living in UAE have donated Rs4.13 million. Pakistanis living in Canada have donated Rs1.5 million. Interestingly, Rs18,490 have been donated from India and only Rs3,000 have been donated by Pakistanis from Afghanistan.

On the other hand, Secretary Law & Justice Commission of Pakistan Raheem Awan, while talking to The Express Tribune, said that overseas Pakistanis are very enthusiastic to donate to the fund but they could not do so due to different reasons, adding that there are very limited Pakistani banks branches situated in abroad.

Likewise, there are also other technical issues, he added. In view of these problems, Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar has already given special instructions to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) governor to resolve these issues so that countrymen living abroad could easily send donations.

Awan also hoped that a visible change will be witnessed in the donation of overseas Pakistanis in the next few days.