Gilgit-Baltistan will benefit most from CPEC: Mamnoon Hussain

SKARDU: President Mamnoon Hussain on Saturday said the people of Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) would benefit the most from China Pakistan Economic Corridor, urging them to foil all conspiracies against the landmark project.

Addressing a ceremony of laptops distribution among the students of Karakoram International University here, the president said the CPEC was a historic project that would bring in prosperity in the GB region and its people should be ready to take advantage of it. The CPEC which was being executed swiftly would open up new avenues of progress in the region he added. However, the president urged the people to foil the conspiracies obstructing the national development.

He said Pakistan’s enemies were jealous of the CPEC and would do their utmost that Pakistan’s dream of becoming a trade hub of the Asian region should not realize. It was responsibility of the people, particularly the youth to thwart the enemies’ nefarious designs, he added.

Mamnoon said the youth were the country’s future and expressed the hope that they would come up to expectations of the people. The youth should build the country’s image by advancing in the field of education and exploiting modern resources. He viewed that the Karakoram International University (KIU) was playing an important role for the promotion of education in the region. He said the government was striving to improve the education sector which was evident from the fact that the budget for the Higher Education Commission had been enhanced in the current fiscal. The president said a KIU campus had been established in Skardu and the facility would be further expanded to Hunza and other areas too to provide educational facilities to the people of GB region. He noted that being a beautiful region GB had huge potential for the business community. The region could not be developed owing to international circumstances and issues however the incumbent government was taking all-out steps to resolve the issues.

President Mamnoon reiterated that the government would continue to extend political diplomatic and moral support to the genuine legal and peaceful movement of freedom by the people of Indian Occupied Kashmir to help execute the unaccomplished agenda of the division of the Sub continent. He also congratulated the university students for winning the laptops. The ceremony was attended by GB Governor Mir Ghazanfar Ali, Chief Minister Hafiz Hafeezur Rehman, Higher Education Commission Chairman Dr Mukhtar Ahmed, KIU Senate Chairperson Khawar Mumtaz and Vice Chancellor Dr Asif, besides a huge number of notables from the area.

-- Originally published in The News