Senate Chairman Mohammedmian Soomro said the government was focusing on relief and rehabilitation of the earthquake victims and would provide maximum possible assistance to the affected people of Azad Kashmir and the NWFP.
"The earthquake has caused a colossal damage of life and property specially in Azad Kashmir and the NWFP, and we all should work together to face the challenge of this national tragedy", he said while talking to AJK Prime Minister Sardar Sikandar Hayat Khan here on Thursday.
The Senate Chairman on Friday visited earthquake-affected areas of Muzaffarabad alongwith a group of senators including S.M. Zafar, Dr Nighat Agha, Kamil Ali Agha, Wali Muhammad Badani, Tahira Latif and senior Pakistani doctors from United States M.M Arain and Muhammad Afzal.
The Chairman and Senators expressed profound grief over the loss of life and property in Azad Kashmir with the AJK Prime Minister.
Soomro said the earthquake had caused devastation in parts of Azad Kashmir including Muzaffarabad and the people of Pakistan were fully behind with their Kashmir brethren to face that tragedy courageously.
He informed the Prime Minister that as soon as he heard about the earthquake, he in consultation with his colleagues in the Senate decided to set up a Relief Cell which in collaboration with a voluntary group arranged dispatch of tents, blankets, medicines, and food items worth crores.
A team of doctors was also sent to the affected areas for providing medical treatment to the victims. The Members of Association of Pakistani Physicians in North America have offered to set up a 25-bed hospital in the AJK capital.
Soomro further informed that Sardar Sikandar Hayat Khan said that every effort would be made for the provision of artificial limbs for the victims who lost their limbs in the quake.
He also informed the Prime Minister that proposal of cargo housing for the affectees would be considered and Senate Relief Cell would try to arrange the same.
Sardar Sikandar Hayat Khan thanked the Chairman and the delegation for their visit and observed the visit had raised the morale of Kashmiris. Sardar Sikandar Hayat Khan also lauded President General Pervez Musharraf's commitment to turn that tragedy into an opportunity.
He said President Musharraf had taken special measures for the socio-economic development of Azad Kashmir and provided the needed funds to achieve that objective.
The Prime Minister also welcomed the proposal of President Musharraf for allowing the people on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC) to enable them to help each other in this hour of trial.
He also thanked people of Pakistan for their help to the people of Azad Kashmir with a missionary zeal.
Later, the Senate Chairman and members of his delegations visited the relief camps, met the affectees and sought their requirements. A truck- load of medicines was also handed over to the medical camps.