Altaf Hamid Rao,
MIRPUR (AJK): Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf Azad Jammu Kashmir Saturday took strong exception to the alleged misappropriation of the relief funds provided by the government of Pakistan under Ehsaas Program AJ&K to combat the situation created by Covid-19, PTI AJK said.
This was observed in the first-ever held online meeting of the Central Governing body of Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf Azad Kashmir (PTI-AJ&K). Chaired by the President of the party and former Prime Minister of AJK Barrister Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry.
Our AJK Special Correspondent Altaf Hamid Rao reports from Mirpur quoting an official statement issued by media wing of the organization here on Saturday that the meeting strongly condemned the recent frequent unprovoked Indian firing at the Line of Control (LoC) and expressed sympathies with the affectees including the parents of the two-year-old baby who was martyred by Indian firing in the Neelum Valley last week.
Addressing the meeting, Barister Sultan accused the PML-N – led Government in AJ&K of distributing the Ehsas Program funds among its workers and cronies in the area while paying no attention to the plight of the people badly hit by the virus.
Sultan on the occasion reiterated his party’s firm resolve not to allow India to sideline the Kashmir issue by taking undue advantage of the world focus on the coronavirus issue at the moment. He urged the Kashmiri community living in the UK to support another online petition for debate in the parliament on the worsening situation in the occupied Jammu Kashmir.
Expressing gtrave concern over the continual deteriorated situation in Indian held Jammu Kashmir following the increased human rights abuses and complete blockade of the turbulent occupied valley to rest of the world, the meeting observed that the continued lockdown in Indian-held-Kashmir has become even more ugly and debilitating as India launches a new wave of media censorship by filing an FIR against the prominent Kashmiri journalists.
“Nearly four hundred COVID-19 cases have already been detected in the area and the situation seems all set to worsen as India remains preoccupied with the obsession to silence the dissenting voices at every cost while showing no interest in protecting the local people from the effects of the deadly virus”, the PTI AJK underlined with grave concern.
General Secretary PTI-AJ&K Abdul Majid Khan on the occasion disclosed that the AJ&K government intended to release eight crores apiece to its legislators in recent days in the name of reconstruction of roads in the area. This kind of misappropriation of public funds, especially under prevailing circumstances, amounts to a broad day-light robbery, he reiterated.
The meeting in a unanimous resolution also impressed upon the government to cut down its no-developmental expenses and launch a special package for traders and people living below the poverty line. Furthermore, it should provide tax exemption to traders and industrialists to help them cope with the current situation and allow the construction sector, in particular, to resume its functioning as it held the key to restart business activities in AJ&K. The government should now move to smart lockdown to get back to normalcy in the area.
The meeting, in the end, reiterated its strong and unwavering trust in the leadership of Barrister Sultan Mahmood and assured him full support to translate the vision of Prime minister Imran Khan at the grassroots level in AJ&K.
Those who attended the meeting included senior Vice President Chaudhry Zafar Anwar, Vice President Chaudhry Azhar Sadiq, Vice President Raja Khursheed Khan, General Secretary Abdul Majid Khan, Additional General Secretary Raja Mansoor Khan, Cental Joint Secretary Khawaja Farooq Ahmed, Central Joint Secretary Abdul Qayyum Niazi, Deputy General Secretary Sardar Murtaza Ali Ahmed, Deputy General Secretary Saleem But, Secretary Finance Zulfiqar Abbasi and Secretary Information Ershad Mahmud. Ends
