President General Pervez Musharraf on Thursday inaugurated the first independent AJK TV channel and hoped it will play an important role in creating solidarity among the Kashmiri people and would reflect their true aspirations.
He said it was an old demand of the AJK government, which has now been fulfilled.
The president said he was pleased to open this channel on the occasion of Solidarity Day.
He hoped that the independent channel would project the struggle of the Kashmiri people and their aspirations in an effective way and would also help in creating awareness and promotes harmony among them.
Besides, he said, the new channel would also promote and project the culture and art of the region.
The president reiterated Pakistan's desire for a just and peaceful resolution of the occupied Kashmir dispute.
He said the resolution of this longstanding dispute was must for peace in South Asia.
President Musharraf hoped that the AJK television would also play a major role in countering negative and false propaganda and would depict a real picture of the ground realities.
He congratulated the AJK government, PTV Chairman Syed Anwar Mehmood, and PTV Managing Director Syed Akhtar Waqar Azeem for their efforts and co-operation in setting up this channel.
Earlier, in his address of welcome Information Secretary Syed Anwar Mehmood termed the opening of a TV channel a significant development and said it has been achieved in a very short span of time.
He thanked the PTV and said it has always played an important role in projecting the occupied Kashmir cause in its true perspective.
The secretary thanked the president for his keen interest to launch this channel which he had promised to the Kashmiri people on the Solidarity Day last year.
He said on the directives of the president, the government has allocated and released Rs 430 million for the project, which consisted of a TV center and seven boosters.
Syed Anwar Mehmood said that out of seven, four boosters have been installed and the remaining would be put in place in the next fiscal year.
He also thanked Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed who evinced keen interest for the completion of this national project.
On behalf of the PTV board of governors, he also thanked Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali for providing funds for the project.
He hoped that the channel would also play an important role in promoting Kashmiri art, culture and heritage.
Besides others AJK President Major General Sardar Mohammad Anwar Khan (Retd), Prime Minister Sardar Sikandar Hayyat Khan, federal Kashmir Affairs Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, AJK opposition leader Barrister Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry and members of the AJK Legislative Assembly and Council attended the ceremony.
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