Relief to Indian Kashmir: AJK assembly seeks world’s help to open LoC
AJK Finance Minister Chaudhry Latif Akbar presented a resolution in the assembly urging the world community and Pakistani government to put pressure on India to allow supply of relief goods to disaster-hit people of Kashmir Valley.
“It is the duty of the United Nations, the European Union and other international aid agencies to come forward and rehabilitate the flood-affected people of Kashmir,” read the resolution.
Both the opposition and treasury benches passed the resolution unanimously.
Akbar said the copies of the resolution will be sent to the foreign embassies and other international agencies in Islamabad to seek their help for the opening of the LoC.
Meanwhile, the deputy opposition leader in the assembly, Tariq Farooq, presented a resolution condemning the sit-ins in Islamabad.
Urge for movement of relief goods across LoC
Civil society activists have urged India and Pakistan to allow relief organisations to send goods to the flood-stricken people of Indian Kashmir.
They were speaking at a gathering organised by the Centre for Peace, Development and Reforms (CPDR) to analyze the post-flood situation across the Line of Control and to develop an understanding about a collective civil society response to similar natural disasters in the future.
Secretary State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) Akram Sohail said around 64 people have lost their lives and 5,0000 have been displaced, resulting in losses of around Rs4,539.806 million,” he told the meeting.
The participants said that disasters knew no boundaries and there was a need to evolve a joint mechanism to effectively respond to such catastrophes.
It was also underlined that a joint disaster management mechanism should also be established to share real time information on both sides of the border.
“A joint institutional mechanism is imperative to save precious lives across the LoC,” said Executive Director Kashmir Institute of International Relations Islamabad Amjad Yousaf.
President Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industries (JCCI) Zulfiqar Abbasi said that the JCCI could play a vital role to rehabilitate the flood-affected people of Kashmir if they were allowed by Islamabad and New Delhi.
President Jammu and Kashmir Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industries YV Sharma while speaking through Skype urged India and Pakistan to immediately repair the road network connecting both sides of Kashmir for resumption of trade and travel.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 23rd, 2014.
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