China donates 30,000 food packages to Pak-occupied Gilgit-Baltistan

Islamabad [Pakistan], November 17 (ANI): China on Tuesday donated 30,000 food packages to the poor residents of Pakistan-occupied Gilgit-Baltistan (GB).
Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister of GB Khalid Khursheed thanked the Chinese government for the gesture. He said the Chinese government had proved to be the best friend of Pakistan through thick and thin, reported Dawn.
On the occasion, chairman of the Overseas Chinese Association, Syed Agha Abdul Shakoor, said the Chinese living in GB were contributing to the development of the region.
"For the last 30 years, the association has been working for strengthening ties between Pakistan and China," he added.
Shakoor said the Chinese government had donated 30,000 food packages for the poor residents, out of which 2,000 packages had been handed over to the chief minister and the remaining would be arriving soon, reported Dawn.
The association's president Abdul Qayyum Majeed said his organisation had initiated a Chinese language and information technology centre in Gilgit.
He said the association comprised the Chinese nationals, who had migrated to Pakistan and settled in GB, adding the region's people always gave respect to the Chinese community, reported Dawn.
It is to be noted that China's flagship project Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) also passes through this region.
The bilateral project China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) between Pakistan and China intends to promote connectivity across Pakistan with a network of highways, railways, and pipelines accompanied by energy, industrial and other infrastructure development projects.
It will link the Western part of China (Xinjiang) to the Gwadar Port in Balochistan, Pakistan via Khunjerab Pass in Northern Pakistan.
India has protested to China over the CPEC as it is being laid through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
The people of Gilgit Baltistan, a territory under Pakistan's occupation are facing the heat of food shortage even after the province was announced as the fifth province of Pakistan. (ANI)