Altaf Hamid Rao,
MIRPUR (AJK): The Central Command of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) has inducted Zulfiqar Abbasi, an eminent icon of the business fraternity of Azad Jammu & Kashmir, as the central Secretary Finance of the AJK Chapter of the party, according to the official notification issued by the Central Secretariat of the organization.
According to the party sources, his appointment as the Secretary Finance came into existence following his long association with the party as an dedicated activist in AJK ever since the emergence of the party’s AJK chapter.
Hailing from Dhirkot District Bagh, Zulfiqar Abbasi had his graduation from University of AJ&K and Masters in English Literature from University of the Punjab with an additional graduationin Review of National Policies from the National Defence University (NDU) Islamabad.
Abbasi, formerly the founder President of Jammu & Kashmir Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JKJCCI), a joint forum of the business community of AJK and Indian occupied Kashmir, and the AJK Chamber of Commerce & Industry, is a well known personality in the sociopolitical and business fraternity of AJ&K as he is the pioneer Private Sector Hydro Power developer of the country, setting up a first ever private sector Hydel Project at Mirpur in the year 2000 coupled with a Steel Industry.
He led the business community as the President AJ&K Chamber of Commerce and Industry for more than seven years and later became the founding President of the J&K Joint Chamber of Commerce& Industry (after he led a historic Business delegation from AJK to Srinagar and Jammu in October 2008.
This historic AJK trade delegation’s visit to IOK led to the advent of the cross LoC trade between two parts of the internationally-acknowledged Himalayan state of Jammu & Kashmir from October 20, 2008 through Muzaffarabad-Srinagar ancient route and later from Taitrinote-Poonch route.
Being a prominent industrialist and businessman of AJ&K, Zulfiqar Abbasi represented private sector on various public sectorBoards and corporations as Director, like the Bank of AJ&K, AJ&K Hydro Electric Board, Small Industries Corporation, Technical and Vocational Training Authority (TEVTA) and AJ&K Mineral and Industrial development corporation (AKMIDC) etc.
Abbasi also heads an AJK based Think Tank “Centre for Peace, Development and Reforms” (CPDR) as President, which primarily visualized and promoted the idea of much-needed amendments in interim constitution of AJ&K. The idea was translated into reality after the arrival of the 13th Constitutional amendment in the recent past in the light of the consensus among all political parties of Azad Jammu and Kashmir