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| December 6, 2005 | Tuesday | Ziqa’ad 3, 1426 |
Aga Khan pledges continued support
MUZAFFARABAD, Dec 5: Prince Karim Aga Khan, the spiritual leader of the Ismaili community, on Monday visited a camp of earthquake survivors in the devastated capital of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and pledged to continue his help and support for affected people.
“I want to confirm that the agencies of the Aga Khan Foundation Network and our helicopters will remain available for reconstruction and rehabilitation,” he told the inhabitants of Thuri camp.
“I also want to say that how important it is that the process of rebuilding and reconstruction of your lives should occur in a rational and improved manner so that if there are future problems with seismic activity, population of this area is less at risk than it is today,” he said.
The Thuri camp is home to over 1,500 survivors from different areas of Muzaffarabad and Neelum and has been set up on a vast tract along the left bank of River Jhelum.
The prince, who was received by AJK President Sardar Anwar Khan, acting prime minister Raja Abdul Qayyum, Corps Commander Lt-Gen Salahuddin Satti and other civil and military officials, also expressed his profound grief at the loss of lives and properties in the quake.
“First of all I share with you my deep sadness over the tragedy which you have experienced. This is a time where all people have to work together as brothers and sisters to try and overcome the consequences of the tragedy,” he said.
He stressed upon doing away with risky constructions.
“I hope that we can bring in new technologies for construction so that your homes, your civil society buildings will be safer in the decades ahead,” he said, as AJK Chief Secretary Kashif Murtaza interpreted him.
“I pray Allah may give us His blessings to work together as one people to build a better future in this part of the country,” the prince said.
Replying to a question that if there was any particular area his organization would be focussing on, he said it would be a multiple input in land planning, micro credit, healthcare, education and agricultural redevelopment.
“Because it is our conviction that only a multiple system has given the best results in other parts of the world including northern (areas of) Pakistan,” he added.
He did not agree to a question that the share of the Aga Khan Foundation Network in relief and rehabilitation activities was less than other non-governmental organizations working in the quake-hit area.
“I think we have done more than our share, but in sophisticated area of need.”
Earlier, soon after landing in Neelum stadium, the prince attended a briefing by Maj-Gen Khalid Nawaz on the relief and reconstruction activities in the nearby headquarters of 5-AK Brigade. He was also shown the pictures of devastation caused by the earthquake.
A donation of $50.3 million was announced on behalf of Aga Khan at the last month’s donors’ conference in Islamabad.
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