The fate of the Dam Fund

Remember the dam fund? That little bizarre moment of our judicial history in which the Chief Justice of Pakistan, the Honourable Justice (retired) Saqib Nisar embarked on a quest to singlehandedly collect funds to build a dam and make Pakistan self-reliant in energy? 

It mattered very little that the dam fund was collecting donations in rupees, and that the feasibility of the Diamer-Bhasha dam, the one it aimed to crowd-fund into existence, has been called into question since the idea was first conceived. From the 6th of July 2018 to the 17th of January 2019 the dam fund dominated headlines. 

From the day the fund was announced to the day the Honourable (retired) Chief Justice hung up his robes and left the spotlight, the dam fund was in everyone’s face. Banks had to put up notices on ATM machines and large flex banners outside their branches announcing they were accepting donations to the fund. SMS campaigns urged the nation to contribute.  The ringing tune for phone calls was an automated appeal to donate generously. Businessmen lined up to hand fat cheques to the Chief Justice and get photo ops handing over cheques to him. There were more than a few comically large cheques so that people looking at the photos could marvel at the many zeroes (all in rupees of course) at the end of the figure.