February 5, 2006	Sunday	Muharram 6, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, Feb 4: Elections to the AJK Legislative Assembly will be held on schedule in the middle of the current year, says Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Northern Areas Makhdoom Faisal Saleh Hayat.

He said they would not be postponed at any cost.

He was talking to reporters after the oath-taking ceremony of four newly-elected members of the AJK Council here.

The federal minister said the elections for the AJK Council that were to be held in October 2005 had been postponed because of the devastating earthquake.

He said there was no need to put off AJK Legislative elections slated to be held in July.

He said that plans had been finalized to launch reconstruction activities in Azad Kashmir next month. He said the Turkish experts had carried out a comprehensive seismic survey in the earthquake-hit areas of the Azad Kashmir that pointed out some quake-prone areas.

He said that major relocation would not be required in reconstruction of Muzaffarabad. The minister said that three designs had been approved to reconstruct the houses . He told that these houses would be completed within the limit of one hundred seventy five thousand rupees expenditure.

He said that the United Arab Emirates had agreed to construct a new hospital at the site of destroyed CMH Muzaffarabad at a cost of $60 million while Qatar had offered to reconstruct the AJK University.

The minister said that while constructing the Bhasha-Diamir dam, the government would ensure rehabilitation of displaced people and the royalty issue of the dam would be settled in accordance with the constitutional provisions.

He confirmed that a proposal for increasing the number of permanent seats of AJK Council was under consideration.

AJK Prime Minister Sardar Sikandar Hayat expressed satisfaction over the on-going dialogue process between Pakistan and India.

He termed proposals for demilitarization and self-governance in Kashmir positive and expressed the hope that withdrawal of forces from Kashmir would help restore peace and move ahead towards an amicable solution of the Kashmir issue.

The AJK prime minister called for opening up more entry points at the LoC to soften borders and said it would help improve communication between the both sides of Kashmir.