AJK charity to build 500 houses for families of martyrs.

MIRPUR -- An Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) based orphan charity has pledged to build 500 housesin collaboration with the state government for the most deserving families of the martyrs of Indian shelling at the Line of Control (LoC).

The symbolic ground-breaking of the project was performed by AJK Prime Minister Sardar Tanveer Ilyas in this lakeside city late on Saturday night by unveiling four plaques at a largely attended wedding ceremony in the family of Chaudhry Mohammad Akhtar, founder of Kashmir Orphan Relief Trust (KORT).

Prominent among those who attended and witnessed the ground-breaking included former AJK premier Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan, Jamaat-i-Islami AJK Emir Abdul Rashid Turabi, AJK cabinet members Deevan Ali Chughtai, Nisar Ansar Abdali, Chaudhry Arshad Hussain, Chaudhry Yasir Sultan, Chaudhry Akhlaque and former defence secretary retired Lt-Gen Chaudhry Ikramul Haq and former corps commander retired Lt-Gen Sher Afgun, both of whom come from Mirpur division.

'This unique and wonderful project is a humble acknowledgement of the supreme sacrifices of the people who laid down their lives at the hands of our bestial enemy, India,' Mr Ilyas said on the occasion.

He said the project envisaged construction of a total of 500 houses in separate colonies in Mirpur, Bagh, Neelum and Kotli districts, with 50pc share of the total cost to be picked by...