Kotli: (Parliament Times) The Prime Minister Azad Jammu and Kashmir Raja Farooq Haider Khan has urged lawyer’s fraternity to cooperate with his government for establishing just and egalitarian society free from all kinds of exploitation.
Addressing oath taking ceremony of newly elected office bearers of Kotli District Bar, lawyers community always played a vanguard role against the dictatorship in the country and in restoration of democracy besides playing role for civil liberties and rights of the people. He said his government is determined to provide good governance, honest and responsive administration to the people in Azad Kashmir. The Prime Minister said that PML-N government under the leadership of Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif is taking tangible steps for the progress and uplift of the Azad Kashmir.
He said good governance, development of AJK and raising effective voice for the people of Occupied Kashmir are the top priorities of the present government. He said an era of progress and prosperity will begin with the completion of China Pakistan Economic Corridor.
He said eliminating corruption is a big challenge for his government, but he is determined to fight it. He said the previous government failed to deliver because of bad governance and institutionalised corruption. “PML-N has a clear road map of tackling corruption and establishing good governance for which people of AJK gave us huge mandate in the elections,†he said.
Haider said the government had enough funds to exploit the tourism and hydroelectric potential of the state to create jobs for the local youth.
The AJK prime minister also lauded the services of lawyers for the stability of democratic system and supremacy of constitution in the country. Haider condemned the massive human rights violations in Indian occupied Kashmir (IoK) by the Indian army. He praised the lawyers’ community in IoK for their efforts to highlight these abuses.
Newly elected president Kotli Bar Raja Javed Akhtar presided over the ceremony. Outgoing president Khawaja Iftikhar Hussain Butt and Ch. Liaqat Others who spoke on the occasion were AJK Information minister Mushtaq Ahmed Minhas, MLA Malik Muhammad Nawaz, Ch. Mehboob, Dr. Mehmood ul Hassan, Zulfiqar Ali, Malik Hanif, Raja Iftikhar, Raja Rizwan, Raja Zaheer, Raja Azhar, Sardar Ashraf, Khurshid Ahmed Qadri, Liaqat Mughal Advocate, Malik Asghar Sethi, Zaheer Baber Chugtai. Baber Minhas, Malik Zarrat, Naseer Rathore, Ch. Liaqat, Imtiaz Raja and Muhammad Rasheed advocate were also present on the occasion.
Earlier addressing a public gathering after inaugurating a newly constructed bridge, Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider Khan had said that 2800 Developmental projects would be completed in this fiscal year across AJK.
He said that under the Community Infrastructure Development Program projects in health,education and communications sectors had been started in AJK without any disparity, focussing on the needs of the people. He said all projects designed keeping in the view of rapid gross root development in the state. He said an effective online monitoring system has been evolved for assurance of transparency in developmental process. He said the supremacy of Law,merit ,provision of justice and developmental process has been initiated in AJK. Promoting Kashmir Issue, ensuring good governance and sustainable development are the priorities of the PML(N) government, he added.
He said the vision of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for development has been enhanced in AJK as well. The Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is taking concrete steps for empowerment of AJK government and provide it financial resources,he said. Meanwhile the Prime Minister Farooq Haider administered the oath to the newly elected body district Bar Association Kotli. The Prime Minister while talking to media at Kotli Press Club said government believes in freedom of press, in AJK media and civil society enjoy ideal freedom of expression and speech.
He said in Occupied Kashmir,India had banned independent media by imposing various restrictions on it while the other hand in AJK even no political prisoner, government has taken strong steps for the welfare of the journalists community by setting up AJK Press Foundation and provision of grants to press clubs bodies and journalists organisations. AJK ministers Mushtaq Minhas,Sardar Farooq Sakindar and other were also present on the occasion.
