LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz on Wednesday met Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) President Dr Akihiko Tanaka and a visiting delegation. The two sides reviewed progress on JICA-supported projects in Punjab and discussed expanding cooperation in priority sectors including education, healthcare, women’s empowerment and human resource development.
They specifically examined the Faisalabad Water Supply Project and explored future joint initiatives. Maryam expressed interest in replicating the Faisalabad water supply, sanitation and urban infrastructure model in other cities of Punjab with JICA support. She appreciated the agency’s contributions to maternal and child healthcare, technology transfer, professional training and institutional reforms.
The chief minister said Punjab highly valued JICA’s sustained assistance in water supply, healthcare, education, nutrition and women’s empowerment, and remained keen to deepen the partnership to achieve sustainable development goals. Dr Tanaka reaffirmed JICA’s commitment to strengthening cooperation with Punjab in these fields.
Separately, Maryam Nawaz expressed Pakistan’s unwavering political, diplomatic and moral support for the people of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK). On Yaum-e-Istehsal-e-Kashmir, she declared that Pakistan would never recognise or accept India’s unilateral actions of August 5, 2019, describing them as an assault on the identity and fundamental rights of the Kashmiri people.
She paid tribute to the martyrs of the Kashmir freedom movement and their families, and urged the United Nations and the international community to take immediate action against continuing human rights violations in the occupied territory. Reaffirming Pakistan’s principled stance, she said the country would continue standing with the Kashmiri people until they secured their right to self-determination.
