Pakistani banking and investment expatriate
tycoons in America – many of them said to be friends
of Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz from his banking days
- are donating generously to Democratic Party presidential
candidate John Kerry, sources told Daily Times on Sunday.
Sources said that at a recent fund-raiser
for John Kerry in New York, Pakistani donors outmatched
Indian donors by giving more than half a million dollars.
Observers say this is seen as a bid to maintain goodwill
for Pakistan in the Democratic Party just in case President
Bush is defeated in the November polls.
A certain Pakistani official in Washington
is reported to have rushed to Boston on Saturday, July
24 and called a meeting of Pakistani-American delegates
to the Democratic Party Convention as it gets underway
on Monday.
A communication sent by this gentleman
to these delegates said that he would be attending the
Democratic National Convention in Boston, Massachusetts
on invitation from the National Democratic Institute (NDI).
He said he was traveling to Boston on Saturday and suggested
that Pakistani-American delegates meet him on the sidelines
of the convention.
The Pakistani ethnic media in New York
has carried reports of the South Asian fund-raiser at
which the Pakistani donors were allegedly told to be present
in large numbers and donate generously to John Kerry.
Weekly Pakistan Post reported that almost 20 senior Citibank
executives and officials were present at the fund-raiser,
including some Pakistani Americans who had never attended
any community function in the past. It has also been reported
that Dr Bunyad and Shama Haider, a New Jersey couple close
to PPP leader Benazir Bhutto, are also actively organising
fund-raising events for Mr Kerry.
According to Pakistan Post, participants
and donors at the Kerry fund-raiser included Mayer Lakhani,
a Wall Street investor, Omar Amanat, a businessman, Kashif
Zafar, a senior official at Stanley Morgan and M Shaharyar,
senior vice president of Citibank. Besides these “financial
bigwigs,” the event was attended by over 15 Citibank
executives.
Some of the Pakistani-American donors
gave over $50,000 each, while one of them contributed
$100,000. Some gave over $25,000. Normally, US citizens
are allowed to donate $1,000 each in one year but businesses
are allowed to donate more. The total tally was over $500,000
and was more than what the Indians put together at the
same fundraiser. The Kerry campaign left the event richer
by about a million dollars.
