Your Mirpur AJK rocks. Bro . Entirely built by you hard working loyal group of peoples who lifted your entire region families & peoples out of poverty. A lesson to rest of us who doubt and talk s hit! They literally built a modern city and villages there lol . with out any nickel help from the corrupt government the roads government built in the 90s then were 1cm thick of tarmac useless corrupt. If I’m not wrong most of Islamabad is owned by you guys haha.
I'm not sure about most of Islamabad but lots of British Pakistani from Mirpur/AJK want to buy property in Islamabad. It's home away from home for us. Most people understand our language, the Punjabi isn't too specialised, plenty of people speak English, it's clean, modern, spacious, got all the brands. It's a great city to live in.
If i ever move back to Pakistan it will be to Islamabad, not AJK.
Mirpur the city and the wider region, including Dadyal/Kotli/Bhimber etc has some positives and some negatives. Our government is a total fail. State education is poor, roads are poor quality, industry is non existent, healthcare is poor. We have god private healthcare facilities for small illnesses, lots of GP's, but if anyone has serious health problems we have to drive to Islamabad. Serious heart attacks require treatment outside of AJK. A heart attack is a common ailment. Cancer treatment requires travel to Islamabad.
The awam is very hard working, when taken out of the environment of AJK. Most of us are village people, there is no culture of business or industry, a lot of young people chill doing nothing but the bare basics relying on income from expat relatives. However when given opportunity outside of AJK (or in some cases even in AJK where people get funds for businesses) people work very hard. Those same lazy guys in the UK are working 6-7 days a week, 12 hour days, even longer - covering costs here and at home. The immigrants work really hard, they build back home, buy land etc.
Like you said our elders have built up that region by hand. We were refugees from IOK and settled in AJK post partition. We were forced out of our homes with nothing. My father came to the UK in 1963. Since then he has bought farmland for his family, then for his brothers. He sent money home to build our first homes in the 70's, then again in the 90's, he then had the old mud homes knocked down and built into a Villa in the 2000's. He paid for his brothers and sisters to be bought up, he paid for their weddings, he even paid for some of their childrens weddings. He helped his brothers setup businesses too. All this whilst buying his own home in the UK, running a business, working long hours and sending all his children to university.
His story is not unique. In his generation, everyone has that story. The guys who came later in the 80's and 90's do the same. Even the guys who come today. People even get together and give money for weddings, treatment, even immigration costs of poor people in their villages and mohallas who don't have any source of income.
People laugh at our empty villas, but they don't realise the spirit behind them. My father didn't come to the UK to become an Englishmen. He came because we were dirt poor refugees. He thought he'd make some money and eventually go home again. Even when building the villas he hoped to retire there. Unfortunately the socio-economic conditions of our region has never improved - it's supported by expat money. Our elders never had the opportunity to go back. Now he is old, in the summer it is too hot, in the winter too cold. He goes to visit during the good weather.
. Stop embarassing yourself.
