By Ali Imran
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to “remove obstacles” hindering the transfer of donations by overseas Pakistanis to the dam fund and sought a report on this matter.
The observation was made by a five-member bench during the hearing of a case pertaining to Diamer-Bhasha Dam. Justice Ijazaul Ahsan said the central bank should look into these complaints, as a number of expatriates were failing to submit money to the fund owning to banks’ refusal to collect donations. Justice Gulzar Ahmed remarked that there were reports of a “huge amount” of money contributed to the dam fund had not been transferred to Pakistan due to obstacles.
During the proceedings, the National Bank of Pakistan submitted a record of investments made by the bank using donations from the dam fund which totalled Rs12 billion.
