ISLAMABAD, Dec 5: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Monday lauded the contribution of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) in the country’s socio-economic uplift and its support in the relief and rehabilitation efforts to help the people devastated by the October earthquake.

Speaking at a banquet he hosted in the honour of the spiritual leader of the Ismaili community, Prince Karim Aga Khan, the prime minister said: “Your presence here is a source of strength for us.”

The prime minister said the government was focusing all its energy to transparently conduct the reconstruction and rehabilitation activities to help the quake-stricken people return to normal life as soon as possible.

He thanked Prince Karim Aga Khan for his consistent support to Pakistan in different fields.

Prime Minister Aziz called for collective efforts to project Islam in its true spirit as the religion of peace, love and inter-faith harmony.

Prince Karim Aga Khan said services under the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme symbolized his commitment to improving the lot of people living in mountains and far-flung northern areas of the country.

“We have been successful to some extent as people of these areas can now look for a better future,” he said.

The AKDN will provide over $300 million for a university of arts and sciences in the ‘education city’ in Karachi, for which the Sindh government under a directive of the prime minister has provided 1,000 acres.

Prince Aga Khan expressed his gratitude to the prime minister for providing additional land for the university campus.

He underlined the need for investment in intelligentsia if Pakistan and the Ummah were to re-position themselves and be competitive in the comity of nations.—APP