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Prime Minister Imran Khan addressed the nation and specifically overseas Pakistanis this evening. He made an appeal to the public to raise funds for building dams in Pakistan. And to make donations to the dam fund. That is set up by the Supreme Court in State Bank Of Pakistan.
“There is no question that we are faced with several significant problems,” the prime minister said. As he began the address to Pakistanis, “but the biggest problem we currently face is the water crisis.”
Warning of the rapid depletion in Pakistan’s water resources, the leader said the country would face drought-like conditions by 2025 if immediate steps were not taken.
“I want to commend Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar [for starting the dams fund], but this was not his job,” he said. “This was the job of civilian leaders who knew this was going to swell into a crisis but did nothing to thwart it.”
“I want to take over the fund-raising and want overseas Pakistanis to contribute like they used to do for the Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital, he said.
The prime minister asked all overseas Pakistanis to make as many donations. As they can to the dams fund in dollars to plug the country’s depleting foreign exchange reserves. As well as provide funding to start building dams, which he said he would personally oversee.
“I will safeguard your donations [against misuse],” he promised.
“If every overseas Pakistani donates $1,000, we will have enough to build the dams ourselves,” the prime minister said.
“This fund will only be used for building dams. I know not every overseas Pakistani will be able to give $1,000, especially the ones working in the Middle East. To them, I would say that donate as much as you can. But the overseas Pakistanis in Europe and the United States, I want them to send at least $1,000 or even more if they can,” he said.
The prime minister cited the example of Egypt, which he said had launched a similar drive to build dams using its own resources.
“They were not getting any external loans; no one will give us any loans from outside either,” he said. “We already have so many loans that we are finding hard to repay, so no one is going to loan us anymore. Pakistanis alone will have to build this dam, and we can. We just have to make up our minds.”
“I promise to you that I will safeguard your money,” PM Khan added.
