March 3, 2006	Friday	Safar 2, 1427

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window).

ISLAMABAD, March 2: A representative of overseas Pakistanis has sought separate medical college and engineering university for overseas Pakistanis. “The overseas Pakistanis are helping bolster the country’s economy by sending huge remittances to the country and have the right to have quality educational institutions of international standard for their children,” Zaheer Ahmad, a Riyadh-based Pakistani expatriate said while speaking at a press conference here on Thursday.

He lamented that the Overseas Pakistanis Foundation (OPF) was functioning for the last 25 years, but its productivity remained almost zero. He pointed out that no housing project of the foundation had yet been completed.

He said the OPF had obtained full amount in advance in 1996 for a housing project for Overseas Pakistanis in Zone VI, but had failed to carry out any development work there.

“For years we are being told that a contract has been awarded to Nespak but nothing has materialized so far,” he said.

Mr Ahmad held the top management of the OPF responsible for it and demanded a thorough probe into the uncalled for delay in development of the project. He said those found responsible should be taken to task to revive the shaking confidence of the Overseas Pakistanis.

He said there were 5,000 plots of different sizes in the scheme.

Answering a question, he said there were half a million Pakistanis working in Saudi Arabia.

Zaheer Ahmad, who hails from Bagh district, told reporters that he had a meeting with AJK President Maj-Gen (retired) Sardar Mohammad Anwar to discuss matters pertaining to rehabilitation and reconstruction.

He said he had some serious concerns about the process. Elaborating his point, he said there was a serious need for relocation in some areas prone to land-sliding in the future.

He also demanded legal action against the contractors of schools and government buildings in AJK demolished as a result of the earthquake, pointing out that international arrest warrants of the contractor of Margalla Towers were issued.