June 27, 2003	Friday	Rabi-us-Sani 26,1424

MUZAFFARABAD, June 26: Azad Jammu and Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry (AJKCCI) president Zulfiqar Abbasi has called for establishment of AJK’s own bank to facilitate and promote investment in Azad Kashmir.

He regretted that the scheduled banks (of Pakistan) were not playing any tangible role in economic and industrial uplift of Azad Kashmir, although the deposits of Kashmiris in different branches were to the tune of Rs120 billion.

“The government in Muzaffarabad must give a serious thought to the establishment of its own bank, which can either be named as Kashmir industrial development bank or Kashmir development and commercial bank,” Mr Abbasi said.

He was speaking at a workshop on “Entrepreneurship opportunities in 21st century” organized by the Central Library and Kashmir Information Resource Centre of the AJK University here the other day.

Quoting a survey conducted recently by the Overseas Pakistanis Foundation, the AJKCCI chief said the liquid assets of Kashmiri expatriates stood at $22 billion outside Pakistan, and if the government could manage to attract only 10 per cent of it, Azad Kashmir could witness an “industrial revolution”.

However, it is unfortunate that the AJK government did not have any clear policy for the promotion of investment in its administered area, he said.