{"id":1674,"date":"2018-12-14T07:08:15","date_gmt":"2018-12-14T07:08:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/?p=1674"},"modified":"2018-12-28T12:54:32","modified_gmt":"2018-12-28T12:54:32","slug":"pakistan-tries-a-new-way-to-pay-for-a-dam-crowdsourcing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/pakistan-tries-a-new-way-to-pay-for-a-dam-crowdsourcing\/","title":{"rendered":"Pakistan Tries a New Way to Pay for a Dam: Crowdsourcing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pakistan Tries a New Way to Pay for a Dam: Crowdsourcing<\/span><\/h1>\n

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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan \u2014 Pav Akhtar is not one to fall for TV donation ads. In fact, he says, he and his siblings jokingly chide their mother for watching them on Pakistani satellite channels at their home in Lancashire, England.<\/p>\n

But when he saw the call on a Pakistani news show for overseas Pakistanis to donate to a new fund-raising initiative, he wired his money without hesitation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a generic begging bowl,\u201d said Mr. Akhtar, 40. \u201cIt\u2019s a specific demand for a specific outcome, and that motivates me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Akhtar was not donating to a charity, though. He was giving money to the government.<\/p>\n

The financially challenged Pakistani state is running a crowdsourcing-style campaign in a last-ditch effort to secure $14 billion to build two dams, which officials say will solve the country\u2019s endemic shortages of water and electricity. It has become the cause du jour for Pakistanis both at home and abroad.<\/p>\n

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Television news shows regularly feature the day\u2019s biggest donors handing over their paychecks en masse, including\u00a0the national soccer team<\/a>, Pakistani politicians, government employees and\u00a0members of the military<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Radio ads across the country implore average citizens to donate even 10 rupees (less than 10 cents) over the phone. Pakistani celebrities have\u00a0announced their own hefty donations<\/a>\u00a0on social media and made fund-raising appeals to their fans.<\/p>\n

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This week,\u00a0Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar<\/a>, who created the fund, berated the television channel Geo News in the Supreme Court for not donating \u201ca single penny\u201d to the dam project.<\/p>\n

\u201cDid Geo group hold a marathon transmission for dam funds?\u201d he said. \u201cGeo has not taken the lead over the dam issue even though it is the biggest of all channels.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n