MUZAFFARABAD, Oct 8: President Pervez Musharraf on Sunday assured survivors of last year’s earthquake that the infrastructure being rebuilt in their areas would be better than in the past.

“I praise your courage and resilience. We will always be with you. Those who died cannot be brought back, but I assure you that we will give you a better life, better living standard and facilities,” he said at a gathering held in a stadium here.

The stadium, the only playground in the city’s central part, had turned into a tent village, but it was restored to its original condition about six months ago when survivors were repatriated.

Exactly at 8:52am, sirens were sounded and people attending the ceremony observed one-minute’s silence. This was followed by fateha for the 73,000 quake victims.

AJK President Raja Zulqarnain Khan, Prime Minister Sardar Attique Ahmed, federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs Tahir Iqbal and Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority chairman Altaf Mohammad Saleem attended the ceremony.

Tight security had been put in place in the town. In areas around the playground, traders were asked to keep their shops shut till the end of the ceremony. Some people complained they were stopped from visiting graves of their loved ones in adjacent graveyards.

The president expressed his gratitude for the international community, the United Nations, NGOs, the Pakistani nation and the armed forces for joining hands to serve the earthquake survivors.

He said these combined efforts had proved those elements wrong who were portraying doomsday scenario and predicting death of survivors by famine, harsh weather and epidemics.

Gen Musharraf said he was proud to say that the rescue and relief phase had been successfully completed, but added that efforts now had entered the challenging task of reconstruction and rehabilitation.

He announced that housing and agricultural loans would be written off to help the affected people to return to normal life.

He said that 80 per cent of reconstruction work would be completed in three years while the major projects might take up to five years.

He said as against an earlier estimate of 400,000 houses, the government would have to build 600,000 for displaced people. The houses would be completed by Dec 2008, he announced.

On the Kashmir issue, he said the region was Pakistan’s jugular vein and with the support of the Kashmiris he would do his best to move towards its resolution.

“And bear it in mind that I fully support the Kashmiris. Because I know that they have been suffering for 50 years and the suffering should end now,” he said, adding that Kashmir would progress together with Pakistan.

He also visited the old campus of the AJK University adjacent to the stadium. The campus is being rebuilt by the Turkish municipality of Kocaeli at a cost of $3.5 million.

On his way back, the president flew into the border town of Chakothi where he inaugurated a girls school. Addressing teachers and students, he called for promoting female education to achieve the objectives of socio-economic prosperity.

APP adds: The president said Rs3 billion had been allocated for micro-financing to help people stand on their own feet and another Rs3 billion had been earmarked for skill development to provide them with better job opportunities.

The government has also allocated Rs6 billion for the National Highway Authority to construct the road network in the quake-hit areas.

He said the relief operation was the biggest in the country’s history, saying that some one million tents were distributed, besides 6.3 million blankets and 300,000 tons of food, medicines and other relief goods.

Tent villages were set up and some 500,000 shelters were prepared which, he said, was a huge task carried out by the Pakistan Army with the help of donor agencies. The president praised women of the quake-hit areas, saying they had faced the calamity with resolve and courage.