Daily Times

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development Sayed Zulfikar Abbas Bukhari has said over 900 expatriates had donated Rs 45 million in the PM’s COVID-19 Relief Fund via his ministry’s web portal.

In a statement Bukhari said the philanthropists from 45 countries had donated generously since the beginning of the portal, adding that most of the donors were from the United Kingdom and the United States.

He said a large number of overseas Pakistanis had taken responsibility for the ration of 2,400 families and they will give cash through the portal.

Prime Minister Imran Khan has appealed the overseas Pakistanis to donate generously in ‘PM Relief Fund for COVID-19’ to cope with the global challenge of coronavirus pandemic.

In a video message, he said the entire world is struggling against the Corona pandemic, which led to the lockdown. He said the lockdown has adversely affected the world economy, including Pakistan, resulting in growing poverty across the globe. He said in the wake of growing economic difficulties, we need more money in the relief fund so the overseas Pakistanis should come forward to contribute in this regard.

The Prime Minister said that the United States, with a population of 300 million people, has allocated 2.2 trillion dollars, while Germany and France, having a population of less than Pakistan, earmarked one trillion dollars each to provide a relief to their people. While on the other hand, Pakistan can only manage just eight billion dollars for the relief fund and in such a situation, we want overseas Pakistanis to donate generously, he added.