Mountain youth seek help for start-ups in native town

Islamabad : Speaking at the 8th Pakistan Mountain Youth Forum, the youth representatives from the mountain areas urged the authorities for the integrated socio-economic development of the youth within their native areas.

The lack of economic opportunities is causing rapid migration from mountain areas to main urban areas downstream. The education system itself in the mountain areas is not equal to the one available downstream. The mountain youth forum was organized by the Development Communications Network (Devcom-Pakistan) at the SZABIST Islamabad campus in connection with the 12th Pakistan Mountain Festival. Dr. Khusro Pervaiz, Head of Campus, was the chief guest.

Devcom-Pakistan Executive Director and Founder Pakistan Mountain Festival Munir Ahmed and PPAF Manager Institutional Development and Integration Shahid Hussain were the guests of honour. The main speakers included Irum Ali Adnan and Anushah Nadir (Chitral), Anmol Heera and Samreen (Hunza), Sabahat Mirza (AJK), and Anita Ikram from Baltistan. Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Khusro Pervaiz said that the SZAIST was engaging youth in conservation action advocacy interventions with communities.

Our own faculty members and students have fully turned the SZABIST Islamabad campus to solar energy. The students are consistently engaged in community education on climate adaptation and tree plantation.

Devcom-Pakistan Executive Director and Founder Pakistan Mountain Festival Munir Ahmed urged the youth to focus more on the conservation of natural resources in their native areas after completing their education. Instead of searching jobs, the educated should launch their own business engaging the local youth and women. It would help strengthen the socioeconomic profile of the local areas and markets. Across the world, societies depend more on women, yet have less access to the resources they need for their socioeconomic development. It is our responsibility to provide them with the required facilities.

Sabahat Mirza said Kashmir is no less than heaven and it is surrounded by beautiful mountains, orchards and lakes. In recent years, the timber mafia was very active and chopped down many of the lush green valleys. Land sliding and water shortage have emerged as the two major challenges for the AJK. The other main issue, she said, was the segregated families living in AJK and Indian occupied Kashmir. Firing from the Indian side is another cause of frustration. We are still living in doldrums seven decades after the independence of Pakistan.

Anita Karim said Greta Thunberg is one example of today’s youth making their move to fight against climate change. She was only 15 years old when she started her fight against climate change. She was speaking on climate change, but her real fight was against the people in power not doing anything serious to solve climate issues. The Siachen Glacier in Gilgit Baltistan, which is the world’s second-largest glacier after Antarctica, is under huge threat due to climate change.

At the beginning of this year, she said, we saw two major floods in the Hunza district due to the sudden advancement of the Shishper glacier making the Shishper Lake burst and causing destructive flooding of the downstream valley. This flood cut the link of major tourist areas of Hunza from the rest of Pakistan causing huge losses to every business related to both local and international. In addition to that, District Ghizer also came under major floods this year in its various parts.