Youth associations promise to join hands for Hunza rehabilitation efforts
by MM Qizil
Karachi: Attabad Students Association convened a meeting of different youth associations of Hunza Gilgit region in order to outline a strategy for resolution of issues in the lake affected areas. The Meeting was attended by all the village level organizations from Hunza and Gilgit region represented by Hunza Gilgit Ismaili Students Federation and Gojal Ismaili Students Association Karachi.
Representatives of the students associations expressed their complete dissatisfaction over support provided by Government and other functional organizations and it was decided to pressurize responsible entities for quick rehabilitation of affected people from the Natural Disaster of January 4th, 2010. Despite lofty promises, made by the officials of government and representatives from local and national organizations, nothing material has been done to lessen the woes of the affected people.
Despite lapse of around seven months and high sounding promises galore not a single family has been rehabilitated yet. People are using boats to commute which is not a sustainable practice IDPs are living in harsh weather conditions inside tents. Several IDP households were forced to handover their children to different NGOs and families are totally disintegrated. Thus their future is in utter peril.
Representatives from Hunza Gilgit Ismaili Students Federation and Gojal Ismaili Students Association Karachi said that the waiting time for rehabilitation and relief operations is over. They demanded concrete solutions for all people affected by the multiple disasters facing Hunza Valley.
The representatives also resolved to coordinate with responsible organizations for getting updates regarding the rehabilitation process.
A critical issues raised by speakers during the meeting was discrepancy in the data from different sources. It was stressed that the data must be complete and accurate representation of the actual situation. In this regard services of Local Students Associations must be utilized to enhance the quality of planning based on the data.
Absence of local representation in the planning and execution of rehabilitation activities was criticized by the speakers and it was decided to demand local representation in planning and execution of relief and rehabilitation operations.
Further it was stressed that youth of the region must muster up their strengths for the betterment of the people and achieving the vision of our heroes who sacrificed their lives to secure the Islamic country.
The meeting concluded with a determination to rise united for the help of people in difficulties and to seek accountability of those who were responsible for relief and rehabilitation.