Sardar Masood Khan, president of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) has said that the youth of the region have the potential to transformed it into a Silicon Valley and IT hub of Pakistan if they are provided guidance and required training.
Sardar Masood Khan expressed these views after he was brief by a senior member of the Board of Directors of Akhuwwat Foundation Pakistan, Muhammad Saleem Ahmad Ranjha.
He has appreciated Akhuwat Foundation’s welfare projects that aim to alleviate poverty, improve the health system and enhance the system of education for the most vulnerable and underprivileged people in the country.
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He said, “AJK will fully cooperate with the Akhuwat Foundation in its endeavor to combat hunger, alleviate poverty and improve the health and education sector.”
He believes with the highest literacy rate and the spirit of cooperation among over ambitious educated youth, different areas of AJK could be turned into Silicon Valley provided the youth is properly guided and necessary education and training are provided to them.
While speaking on the occasion, Muhammad Saleem Ahmad Ranjha, the Founding Director of Akhuwat said that youth of all the four provinces and Azad Jammu and Kashmir is being provided the interest-free loans by Akhuwat Foundation. He added that the response of AJK in repayment of the loans is better than all other provinces of Pakistan.
Ranjha also said, “Besides the microfinance scheme, the Akhuwat Foundation is considering to introduce Kashmiri handicrafts at home and abroad, and establishing an educational institution in Muzaffarabad on the pattern of NJV School Karachi.”
He further said that the Foundation has provided more than Rs 130 billion through its 831 branches, under the Islamic concept of Qarz-e-Hasna. Also, at least 200 rest houses for the poor segments society has been established by the foundation. It also established 301 schools to provide quality education to more than 47,000 poor students.
Ranjha went on to say that the foundation has established 23 telemedicine centers affiliated with the best hospitals in the country.
“Besides, it has provided 20 ambulances and more than 400,000 patients have used this service so far, and now we want to repeat the same exercise in Azad Kashmir also as the people of remote mountainous areas have no access to hospitals in urban areas.”
