ISLAMABAD (Pakistan Point News / NNI - 03rd March, 2019) The Azad Jammu and Kashmir government will pitch to the Federal government for a Rs5 billion relief and rehabilitation plan for victims of Indian firing along the Line of Control in Azad Kashmir.A meeting in Islamabad on Sunday chaired by Azad Jammu and Kashmir Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider Khan also decided that the federal government would also be approached for the issuance of health and Benazir Income Support Programme cards to the people of 13 Constituencies along the LoC that face continued Indian shelling.
Earlier, in a letter to the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan, AJK Chief Secretary Mathar Niaz Rana had asked the Centre to provide relief to the citizens of Azad Kashmir bearing heavy losses due to intense shelling.The federal government was also asked to sanction a special relief package under the Benazir Income Support Programme for the people living along the LoC in light of the heavy shelling and firing in the past few days.
�Every day shelling has a direct bearing on the livelihood of LoC residents as it is damaging their houses, shops, fruit trees and crops. Although the AJK government is taking steps for their welfare, its meagre resources are a big impediment to the provision of these services to the entire affected population,� read an official handout.Around 503,000 people from 79,992 families reside along the LoC and have been directly exposed to Indian shelling.
Addressing the meeting, the AJK PM expressed satisfaction over the immediate steps taken by the district administrations to meet the emergency needs of those affected by the shelling.He directed that the heirs of those killed in the violence and the injured be paid compensation within 24 hours, making the process easier and simple.Paying tribute to the armed forces of the country, the premier said every Kashmir child will back the Pakistan Army in protecting the frontiers of Kashmir. He also praised the morale of the people who live along the LoC and assured them that the government would do everything it could to rehabilitate them. NNI
