CHAKWAL: Life in Karsal - a village some 26km to the west of Chakwal - had always been quiet. That is until a couple set up a ‘charity’ promising poor families dowry items at subsidised rates.

Now, the village sees scores of people coming to collect on the offer, some even having paid the subsidised rate, but no one has recently received a return on investment.

The ‘charity’ was started some six months ago. Nadeem Abbas and his wife initially limited the scheme to women.

They also hired women agents in different villages and now employ 45 agents who are paid Rs500 a day. According to the couple, they pay a whopping Rs690,000 a month to their employees.

Their ‘charity’ offers schemes of two values; one where applicants pay Rs20,000 and are offered items such as a bed, sofas, a dressing table, a dinner set and clothes, among other things. These items, says Mr Abbas, would normally cost around Rs100,000.

Another scheme worth Rs30,000 promises applicants additional items such as refrigerators and washing machines.

Further compounding the mystery is the fact that the couple has neither established a formal charity nor have they registered it with the authority. The couple is running the operation from their home.

When asked why applicants were not being refunded or given the items they had paid for the couple claimed it was because of a sudden rise in demand and assured that the situation would be rectified soon.

Mr Abbas told Dawn he gets funding from “five very rich men who want to make marrying off of daughters easy for poor families”. When pressed to reveal his source of funds, he remained mum.

Asked why these men picked them to do their charity work, the couple said they had common acquaintances with the donors, which was why they were chosen to operate the scheme.

The couple started out by giving away some dowry items. News spread very quickly and scores of hopeful parents came to try their luck. However, for reasons best known to the couple and their donors, the payouts suddenly stopped.

More than a hundred applicants have been left hanging by Mr Abbas and his wife who are no longer giving out the promised goods, nor returning applicants’ money.

People who applied for the scheme were women from low-income homes.

A widowed mother told Dawn she had deposited Rs20,000 with the couple for her daughter’s wedding in June but, she said, “I have been coming to Karsal to collect the items for four months now, but all my trips have been in vain. I fear that if I go to the police, I may lose my money entirely.”

Many other women spoke to Dawn about their grievances but were reluctant to speak on record. They said they were poor and could not afford a legal battle, which was why they had to remain silent.

The people of Karsal are also mystified by the scheme.

Local PTI leader Pir Nisar Qasim said he failed to understand where the couple gets their financing from.

A local police officer told Dawn he thought there was some foul play involved in the charity scheme.

“Such an ambitious scheme with anonymous donors smells fishy to me,” he said.

District Police Officer Dr Moeen Masood said no applicants had filed any complaints yet. “If a complainant files a report with us we would immediately take action but as no one has come forward yet, we will look into the matter on our own.”

Published in Dawn, October 5th, 2015

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