THE PHOENIX TOUCH: 10 STATE-OF-THE-ART SCHOOL BUILDINGS HANDED
OVER TO GOVERNMENTS OF AJK AND NWFP
In the wake of the 8 October Earthquake, within the frame of the
fundraising campaign initiated by the Kimse Yok Mu Solidarity and Aid
Association in collaboration with the Pak Turk ICEF, 10 state-of-the-art
prefabricated school buildings were built in record time and were handed
over to the Ministries of Education in AJK and NWFP. The schools were
built on the sites of the destroyed ones and were inaugurated for
education by His Excellency Sardar Sikandar Hayat Khan, Former PM AJK
and His Excellency Hasan Kemal Gur, Former Ambassador of the Republic of
Turkey to Pakistan.
Pak Turk ICEF, in collaboration with the Kimse
Yok Mu Solidarity and Aid Association, constructed and fully equipped 6
modern school buildings in Muzaffarabad, AJK and 4 modern school
buildings in Mansehra, Balakot and Hassari in NWFP.
An inauguration
ceremony was held in Muzaffarabad honoured by H.E. Sardar Sikandar Hayat
Khan as the Chief Guest. A select delegation of 140 Turkish donors who
contributed to the construction of the schools was also present in the
function. H.E. Sardar Sikandar Hayat Khan thanked the Turkish public in
the person of the Turkish donors in the audience and mentioned that the
first-ever country which rushed for the help of Pakistan was Turkey.
Sardar Sikandar Hayat Khan termed Pak Turk ICEF/Kimse Yok Mu schools as
the permanent monuments of heartiest love and affection between Pakistan
and Turkey and prayed for the eternity of the brotherhood of the two
countries.
|
|
His Excellency Hasan Kemal Gur mentioned that the
schools built by Pak Turk ICEF and Kimse Yok Mu directly contributed to
the relations between Pakistan and Turkey and praised the quick action
of the two organizations in providing quake-affected students with
state-of-the-art schools. His Excellency Gur advised the Turkish guests
with the words, “Do not ever forget the love and affection that our
Pakistani brothers and sisters are keeping for you, take this love and
care to Turkey along with you.”
Mr Mehmet Özkara, Chairman of the
Kimse Yok Mu Solidarity and Aid Association, gave a brief chronology of
the achievements of his association and Pak Turk ICEF to provide relief,
rehabilitation and reconstruction facilities in the wake of the
earthquake. Having met His Excellency General Pervez Musharraf,
President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan to deliver the first batch
of the Turkish people’s financial assistance for the quake victims,
Kimse Yok Mu and Pak Turk ICEF were suggested by His Excellency
President of Pakistan to lend a hand for uplifting the collapsed
educational infrastructure of the quake-affected areas. Mr Ozkara
mentioned that they were happy to have completed the school projects in
the soonest time and thanked for the indispensable assistance, logistics
and overall guidance rendered by the Pak Turk ICEF on through the
projects. Schools were designed for 350-student capacity.
The
construction and equipment work for 10 schools took only five months,
using stationery and educational furniture cargoed from Turkey. Each
school spans over 760 m2. Kimse Yok Mu and Pak Turk ICEF channeled
Turkish public’s financial assistance totaling USD 12 million to
Pakistan by handing USD 4 million to His Excellency General Pervez
Musharraf, President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and maintaining
rehabilitation and reconstruction work (by erecting four tent villages
in Muzaffarabad and Islamabad with USD 2.5 million) and by building and
furnishing 10 state-of-the-art schools in AJK and NWFP for 5.5 million
USD. |
