Daily Times

Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar is likely to visit the United Kingdom and European countries where he will meet overseas Pakistanis in a bid to generate awareness about the crucial issue of water scarcity and building new dams for which funds could be raised through expatriates.

The development came on Monday after the top judge met Arif Anis, executive director of World Congress of Overseas Pakistanis, and accepted his invitation to visit UK and European countries to sensitise Pakistanis residing abroad to prevailing water crisis in the country.

The meeting between the top judge and executive director of World Congress of Overseas Pakistanis came days after the Supreme Court delivered a landmark judgement, permitting overseas Pakistanis to cast their ballots in the upcoming by-elections.

“Many congratulations to overseas Pakistanis,” Justice Nisar had said, noting that it would be the first time that expats would be voting in a local election through i-voting mechanism.

The judgement was issued by a three-judge bench, headed by the CJP, which was hearing petitions at the apex court’s Lahore registry.

The petitioners had asked the top court to order authorities to give them right to vote so they could participate in elections and choose their leaders.

Anis, who was representing the overseas Pakistanis, thanked chief justice Nisar on behalf of the expatriates for their right to vote. He told the CJP about the efforts of overseas Pakistanis for collection of funds for construction of dams in the country and requested him to visit the UK, Europe and the US. He said that hundreds of millions of dollars could be contributed by overseas Pakistanis to the funds for construction of dams. The CJP thankfully accepted the invitation mentioning that he had been earlier invited by many overseas Pakistanis residing in different countries for donations for construction of dams, but it was not possible for him to visit all the countries.

However, he said, he would visit overseas Pakistanis along with the State Bank of Pakistan governor and the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) chief on a seven-day trip. A seven days trip to the UK and Europe is most likely to be scheduled in October.

Published in Daily Times, August 21^st 2018.