MUZAFFARABAD:
Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan has said that extending support to orphans and physically-challenged people is "our social and religious obligation".
“The Holy Quran and Sunnah of Prophet (PBUH) teach us to treat people with any kind of disability with kindness and respect. It is, on one hand, our social responsibility to take care of the vulnerable and on the other, it is our religious obligation to assist them in fulfilling their special needs," he added.
He expressed these views while addressing an event organised by Kashmir Orphan Relief Trust (KORT) on Friday to distribute wheelchairs among 110 differently-abled people. The session was also addressed by AJK Minister for Social Welfare Naureen Arif and KORT Chief Chaudhry Mohammad Akhtar, Zulqarnain Naqvi and others.
The president said that a society with plenty of hands to support the vulnerable and physically challenged is bound to achieve heights of prosperity in this world besides the highest reward in the life hereafter.
Paying glowing tributes to KORT chief for visiting Muzaffarabad from the United Kingdom and contributing to post-earthquake relief and rehabilitation work in 2005 and establish a charity, Masood Khan said that Chaudhry Mohammad Akhtar has turned KORT into the country's biggest welfare and charity organisation.
He said that KORT has constructed a huge complex for orphans in Mirpur where the best accommodation, food and education are being provided to hundreds of parentless children in order to make them useful citizens.
He also said that KORT has now emerged as a role model for other organisations by offering social services in different fields and sectors. The AJK president said that the successive state governments have always supported the organisation, and the cooperation with it would continue in future also.
He also appreciated Chaudhry Akhtar and his volunteers for their services during the current coronavirus pandemic. Speaking on the occasion, the social welfare minister termed KORT chief Mohammad Akhtar as Abdul Sattar Edhi of Azad Kashmir.
Akhtar said that he had set a bright example of social services by establishing Asia's biggest orphanage in Mirpur and providing help to the needy and deserving people in every length and cranny of Azad Kashmir during any natural calamity.
On the occasion, the KORT chief reiterated to continue to extend social services till the last breath of his life, saying is thankful to the KORT patron in chief Sardar Masood and the cooperation of Naureen Arif.
He said that the incumbent federal government is establishing 22 model villages across Pakistan for the rehabilitation of disabled and the vulnerable people, and three of them will be established in Azad Kashmir.
Chaudhry Akhtar said that his organisation besides constructing 300 residential houses for quake victims in Mirpur had provided relief to people in the whole of the liberated territory after the outbreak of coronavirus pandemic.
The KORT now is drawing up a comprehensive plan for providing relief and to rehabilitate the people affected by rain in Karachi, he added. Earlier, a documentary was also screened to highlight the welfare-oriented activities of Kashmir Orphan Relief Trust.
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