Bank Alfalah has finally clarified that it has not barred the staff from accepting donations for Palestine after a circular stating this went viral on the internet.
Pakistan and the Muslim world have condemned the Israeli bombardment of Gaza which has caused hundreds of civilian casualties.
Many people have donated money to organizations and charities to help the Palestinians.
However, a circular from Bank Alfalah restricting the collection of funds for Palestinians sparked outrage online.
Soon after, the hashtag #BoycotteBankAlFalah started trending as people and public figures criticized the bank for allegedly advising its branches not to accept donations to the Embassy of State of Palestine.
Now, Bank Alfalah responded to the backlash saying that a leaked internal memo had created a misunderstanding.
Notably, it did not say that the memo was fake neither shared details of accounts authorized to receive donations for Gaza.
The bank denied that it had restricted the collection of donations for Gaza saying that it only prohibited donations to the operational accounts of embassies in Pakistan.
The statement said, "In Pakistan, the operational accounts of embassies are restricted from receiving donations; instead, contributions should be directed to legally permissible donation accounts."
Instead, the bank said that donations should be directed to legally permissible donation accounts.
Official Statement, November 9, 2023#BankAlfalah #TheWayForward pic.twitter.com/RDCVd1LXIA
— Bank Alfalah (@BankAlfalahPAK) November 9, 2023
Bank Alfalah pledged to continue accepting donations in accordance with the law.
