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LISBON: His Highness the Aga Khan has expressed heartfelt sympathy for the people of Gilgit-Baltistan following the recent flash floods and related disasters that have caused widespread devastation across the region.

In a letter addressed to the government, His Highness conveyed condolences over the tragic loss of lives, including volunteers near Gilgit who were working to restore water-supply infrastructure in their communities. “I pray that their souls may rest in eternal peace, and that the bereaved families may have the strength to bear their immense loss,” he wrote.

The European Union has decided to co-finance three projects, for more than €7 million, to alleviate the socio-economic impact of the Covid-19 outbreak on communities in Pakistan.

The initiative also aims to increase the voice of the youth as well as providing support to Pakistan's civil society.

The announcement followed the signing of three contracts by Androulla Kaminara, Ambassador of the European Union to Pakistan, and representatives of the main implementing partners: Agha Khan Foundation, Norwegian Church Aid, and Deutsche Welthungerhilfe.

Shamim Bano, a middle-school teacher, has recently returned from a fortnight in Kabul where she taught Afghan women to do search and rescue work. The training “involved climbing mountains and gorges using ropes and harnesses, using ziplines and rappelling. Any wrong move and you can start a rock fall,” she explained.

Handling serious casualties, “with broken bones, head, neck and back injuries,” was also part of the training, she added.

LAHORE: The World Wildlife Fund - Pakistan captured rare footage of about 50 Himalayan ibex near Passu Glacier in Hunza Valley, The News reported Thursday.

The Himalayan ibex is indigenous to Pakistan's Himalayan and Karakoram range.

WWF-Pakistan’s team captured the footage with a local wildlife photographer to understand how communities have protected wildlife in the area, a press statement by the WWF-Pakistan read.

ISLAMABAD: A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Special Communications Organization (SCO) and the Aga Khan Foundation (Pakistan) [AKF (Pak)] to improve IT and digital infrastructure and services in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB).

The overall purpose of the MoU is to strengthen cooperation between SCO, AKF (Pak) and other Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) agencies in light of the shared objective of sustainable socio-economic development of GB through reliable internet and telecom infrastructure.

The Newspaper's Correspondent

GILGIT: The Aga Khan Agency for Habitat Pakistan (AKAH-P) and the government of Gilgit-Baltistan have announced a US dollar 4.2 million project to plant 50 million trees across the region to reduce the climate-induced natural disasters.
The announcement was made at a function here on Friday.

The project will use tree plantation to absorb carbon and stabilise soil and slopes in hazard-prone areas, mitigating climate change and disaster risk, according to a press release issued here on Friday.