ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan and Prime Minister Fund for Diamer-Bhasha and Mohmand Dam has received lukewarm response after the retirement of former Chief Justice Saqib Nisar as the Fund has generated only Rs595 million in 36 days since his departure.
According to the Supreme Court of Pakistan’s official website, the Diamer-Bhasha and Mohmand Dam Fund has received Rs9863620710 donations till February 22. The Fund was created on the instructions of former Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar on July 6. The former CJ was the first donor of the Fund who donated Rs1000000 at the time of creation of this Fund.
The day Justice Saqib Nisar was retired as Chief Justice; Rs9268618534 had been donated to the Diamer Bhasha and Mohmand Dam. However, after his retirement the public response has slowed down. The Fund has received Rs16.52 million per day donations on average after the retirement of Justice Saqib Nisar.
According to State Bank of Pakistan’s official website, a total of Rs8424220168 have been donated by the local Pakistani community as of February 21, 2019. Similarly, Rs1440793816 funds have been generated by the Overseas Pakistanis for the Diamer-Bhasha and Mohmand Dam Fund.
The SBP website has also mentioned the top ten institutional donors which include employees of the Punjab government with Rs1091455518, the Pakistan Army Rs582071939, Strategic Planning Division Rs201093824, Pakistan Air Force Rs100280791, Sajid Ali, Naval Accounts Controller Rs63826604, Frontier Constabulary Rs40000000, Bahria Town Rs110127185, Karachi Port Trust and Habib Bank Limited Islamic Charity Rs100000000 each, Qarshi Industries, Engro Corporation, US Apparel & Textile Mill and Bestway Cement Rs50000000 each, and employees of the SBP and its subsidiaries Rs44279498.
The top ten individual donors are: Muhammad Ali Tabba with Rs100000000, Murtaza Hashwani, CEO, Hasho Group Rs60000000, Sardar Tanvir Ilyas Rs29500000, and Riaz Hussain and Yasmeen Riaz, Muslim Commercial Bank, Rs20000000 each, Abdul Hannan Khan Rs19882351, Ziaullah Qureshi from Switzerland Rs16374476, Zeeshan Ahmad Rs16374476, Shan e Abbas Ashary from Saudi Arabia Rs13748428, Zafar Siddiqui Rs13300000 and Amjad Ali Khan Rs13230004.
The State Bank data shows that Overseas Pakistanis have donated Rs1.23 billion in the fund till January 15, when it was last updated. The groundbreaking of Mohmand Dam is expected to be held later this month. The project will be built at a cost of Rs309 billion by a consortium of a Pakistani engineering firm and a Chinese company, which have won the bid.
It is pertinent to mention here that following the footstep of former Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, Prime Minister Imran Khan also joined this campaign and issued an appeal to the Overseas Pakistanis to generously donate for the noble cause. He asked them to contribute at least $1000 and those who can afford were requested to give more.
To mobilize funds, some ruling party MPs also visited foreign countries where donations were given or pledges were made. Not only just parliamentarians, but even the former Chief Justice also visited United Kingdom and attended several events there to generate donations for the Diamer-Bhasha and Mohmand Dam Fund.
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