Gwadar coast. PHOTO: ONLINE
MIRPUR: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan said on Tuesday that the multibillion dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) would open vistas of unprecedented economic progress and prosperity for AJK.
“Being the biggest industrial and business city [of the region], Mirpur will have to perform a significant role in the light of CPEC,” Khan said while addressing a news conference at the PWD State Guesthouse on his first official visit to the city after assuming office as president.
China has so far poured $14b into CPEC projects
He underlined that in addition to being a business hub, Mirpur was also a centre of ancient Kashmiri culture, heritage and literature. Khan added that the area had also produced famous personalities of international repute as well.
The president said AJK would be made economically self-sufficient by utilising natural resources available in the region. In this regard, he disclosed that hydel power generation projects and tourism industry would be encouraged through public-private partnerships.
Khan urged the civil society of AJK to do what they can to help their ailing brethren in Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir in their just, principled and indigenous struggle for freedom of the homeland from the Indian yoke.
CPEC to usher in era of prosperity, says CM
To a question about the much-awaited grant of representation for Mirpur district in the AJK cabinet, he said that the tradition of representation to all areas of AJK in the state cabinet under the spirit of the parliamentary democratic government would be maintained in letter and spirit.
He added that once Minister Raja Farooq Haider returns from his visit to Brussels, Mirpur district would be given due representation in the AJK cabinet.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 9th, 2016.
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