Skip to main content

World needs to resolve Kashmir dispute to make the dream of peace a reality


At a two-day conference in Muzaffarabad, Pakistan-administered Pakistan, on 23-24 May, Prime Minister Yousef Raza Gilani urged the world to assist in the peace efforts in Kashmir. He said the “dream of peace” was a global issue at the conference organized by the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) University.

Gilani, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, said that no significant development could take place in south Asia until the resolution of the Kashmir issue. He called for the need to acknowledge Kashmiri’s rights to self-determination in accordance with the United Nations Resolutions and seeks continuation of Pakistan and India dialogue.

PM Gilani, said a Kashmir resolution was instrumental in bringing prosperity to the region. He then inaugurated a number of education and infrastructure projects in the Muzaffarabad and Rawalakot campuses of AJK University and the construction of 25 model schools. Quality education was a key development focus for the region.

He also said the government was keen to the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority had completed a disaster management program and another program of medical rehabilitation for over 40,000 people with disabilities had also been completed. In addition, 40 new bridges were constructed, and water and sanitation had been improved.

The rehabilitation and recovery programs were announced in reference to the Kashmir earthquake on October 8, 2005, known as the South Asian earthquake of or the Great Pakistan earthquake. Registering 7.7 on the Richter scale, the quake’s death toll was reported to be over 70,000. In response to the catastrophe, Pakistan and India ceased hostilities in the region to assist in the disaster relief efforts during a harsh winter season.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh  (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. That

Flaws in the Glass, a self-portrait by Patrick White: book review

The manuscript, Flaws in the Glass (1981), is Patrick Victor Martindale White’s autobiography. White, born in 1912 in England, migrated to Sydney, Australia, when he was six months old. For three years, at the age of 20, he studied French and German literature at King’s College at the University of Cambridge in England. Throughout his life, he published 12 novels. In 1957 he won the inaugural Miles Franklin Literary Award for Voss, published in 1956. In 1961, Riders in the Chariot became a best-seller, winning the Miles Franklin Literary Award. In 1973, he was the first Australian author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for The Eye of the Storm, despite many critics describing his works as ‘un-Australian’ and himself as ‘Australia’s most unreadable novelist.’ In 1979, The Twyborn Affair was short-listed for the Booker Prize, but he withdrew it from the competition to give younger writers the opportunity to win the award. His autobiography, Flaws in the Glass

The Beggars' Strike by Aminata Sow Fall: book review

The Beggar’sStrike (1979 in French and 1981 in English) is set in an unstated country in West Africa in a city known only as The Capital. Undoubtedly, Senegalese author Sow Fall writes of her own experiences. It was also encapsulated in the 2000 film, Battu , directed by Cheick Oumar Sissoko from Mali. Mour Ndiaye is the Director of the Department of Public Health and Hygiene, with the opportunity of a distinguished and coveted promotion to Vice-President of the Republic. Tourism has declined and the government blames the local beggars in The Capital. Ndiaye must rid the streets of beggars, according to a decree from the Minister. Ndiaye instructs his department to carry out weekly raids. One of the raids leads to the death of lame beggar, Madiabel, who ran into an oncoming vehicle as he tried to escape, leaving two wives and eight children. Soon after, another raid resulted in the death of the old well-loved, comic beggar Papa Gorgui Diop. Enough is enou