Saqib Ali Haidri
Muzaffarabad: International Youth Day was commemorated under the aegis of Youth forum for SDGs AJK in auditorium Hall of Kashmir Institute of Management here on Tuesday.
Chief Guest of the event was President AJK Sardar Masood Khan, while Minister for Education Barrister Iftikhar Gillani, DG KIM Akhtar Hussain and EPI Provincial Co-coordinator Dr. Bushra Shams were also present as panel guests.
Youth from all across AJK and other provinces of Pakistan took part in Youth day celebrations. Speaking on the occasion President Sardar Masood Khan said,” Youth need to aim higher in terms of quality education; we need to develop quality education, technical and professional skills.” The AJK president said that durable peace was a key to achieve the cherished goal of sustainable development. To ensure durable peace he said that resolution of conflicts on the basis of justice was imperative. Referring to the situation in Indian occupied Kashmir the president said, “A big part of the region we live in has been forcibly occupied by a neighbouring countryâ€. He said that situation in the held territory is so alarming that the youth who were supposed to be at the center of sustainable development agenda were being killed callously by the occupation forces. “Kashmiri youth are being deprived of development opportunitiesâ€, he said adding that in Azad Kashmir the situation is quite different where youth have been provided all the opportunities. To achieve the sustainable development goals he said that the AJK youth can play important role.
“We don’t have conflict situation in AJK, we are in a conflict zone but we are not directly affected by the conflict everyday”, Masood Khan said adding that India has been trying to create a chaos in the region by resorting to cross-LoC firing and targeting civilian population across the line of control. President said that peace has to be build between communities by national harmony. “SDGs main aim is to leave no one behind by 2030. It primarily implies on almost everythingâ€, he said.
AJK president advised the participants as well as youth of whole AJK that youth in this era is a part of global citizen so our youth have to prepare themselves not to perform their responsibilities in AJK but also for International environment. President reiterated that youth connectivity with international environment is very important, whole world is listening voices of Youth everywhere. Youth must have passion for excellence in personal life, academics and youth should also demonstrate for excellence in pursuing the core values of our religion and civilization. In a Panel discussion, guests of the event not only appreciated the efforts of youth for organizing the event but also said that this event should have been held on a bigger scale to be attended by bigger audience.
President of AJK also announced “Youth Forum for SDGs” under his patron so youth of AJK can play an important role for peace building and work for SDGs in AJK.
Pertinently, the SDGs are a United Nations-sponsored effort to create a common set of development goals for all communities in every country, with a deadline for attainment of 2030. The idea is to get governments, aid organizations, foundations and NGOs on the same page about what global problems most urgently need to be solved and how to measure progress and solutions. Adopted in September 2015, the SDGs replaced the Millennium Development Goals, which were in place for the past decade and a half. Countries started to implement the new framework in January 2016.
