Altaf Hamid Rao.
MIRPUR (AJK), (Parliament Times) : To mark the 20th Anniversary of history’s worst catastrophe of October 08, 2005 earthquake, as the Day of Perservance a grand walk was held here on Wednesday.
The grand walk started from Quaid e Azam International Cricket Stadium to Chowk Shaheedan jointly under the auspices of district administration and Kashmir Orphan Relief Trust (KORT) in commemoration of Perseverance-cum-disaster awareness day in rememberance of October 08 2005 deadly earthquake that had rocked bulk of AJK.
At exactly 08:52 a.m. the siren was blown and a minute’s silence was observed.
On the occasion of Perseverance Day, a big prayer was, earlier, held outside the cricket stadium.
Participants including Mirpur Division Commissioner Ch. Mukhtar Hussain, SSP Mirpur Khurram Iqbal, KORT Chairman Ch. Akhter Kashmir Waala, District Head Environmental protection Agency of AJK Sardar Idrees Mahmood, Divisional AJK PID Head Javed Malik and others prayed for upholding of the status of the martyrs of the October 08, 2005 earthquake.
Objective of staging the walk by the district administration and Kashmir Orphan Relief Trust was primarily aimed at to pay tributes to those who lost their lives in the terrible earthquake of 2005.
The walk started from the cricket stadium and culminated at the same site after passing through main city streets and central Chowk Shaheedan.
The walk was led by Divisional Commissioner Ch. MukhtarHussain, SSP KhurramIqbal, KORT Representatives and the volunteers of the KORT.
The deadky earthquake-caused hundreds of orphan boys and girls, students of schools and colleges, teachers, emergency services institutions, officers and employees of various departments and civil society members participated in the walk.
Speaking at the prayer ceremony, Commissioner Chaudhry Mukhtar Hussain and others paid rich tribute to the martyrs of the earthquake and expressed heartfelt sympaties with those who lost their loved ones in the deadly catastrophe this day 20 years ago.
Speakers recalled that soon after the October 2005 earthquake, Chaudhry Muhammad Akhtar established an exemplary institution for rehabilitation of hundreds of those children fallen orphan and shelterless in the calamity, in form of a KORT for the education and shelter support of orphans.
In the earthquake of 2005, the people of Mirpur fully helped their earthquake-affected brethren besides shared their grief and sympathies in that hours of trial