Court Asks Government For Fund Details Of Let Girls Learn Project
The Sindh High Court has directed the respondent federal government authorities to file details of the program ‘Let Girls Learn’ through which the former US First Lady, Michelle Obama, granted 70 million dollars to Maryam Nawaz Sharif to promote education for girls in Pakistan.
A two-judge bench heard a constitutional petition of a civil rights campaigner against alleged misappropriation of the aid granted for the promotion of girls’ education. The petitioner informed the judges that former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s daughter Maryam Nawaz and Michelle Obama had signed a contract to enhance Pak-US cooperation, vowing to work together on expanding opportunities for education for girls in Pakistan. The program aimed to educate young girls, help build over a dozen new schools and renovate hundreds of others across the country.
The court was informed that the agreement, which was meant to benefit two hundred thousand girls in the country, seemed to have been held in the abeyance, or the amount had been embezzled, as so far no practical steps had been taken.
She impleaded the Chair of the National Accountability Bureau, Prime Minister’s House, the Federal Finance Ministry and Maryam Nawaz as respondents, asking the court to direct the country’s top anti-graft institution to conduct and inquire into the matter in order to take legal action.
The petitioner also questioned Maryam Nawaz’s authority to run government affairs and stated that the former Prime Minister’s daughter did so without holding any public office. The federal authorities were also requested to explain under what capacity Maryam Nawaz had signed the agreement with the former First Lady of the US.
Granting the request, the bench allowed time till the 16th of October to the Deputy Attorney General to provide details regarding the funds that had been spent or lying unspent under the program.
