LAHORE: The passing out ceremony of 217 rescuers from Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan and Punjab was held at the Emergency Services Academy (ESA) on Monday. As many as 53 rescuers from Punjab, 130 from Gilgit-Baltistan and 34 from Azad Jammu and Kashmir have successfully completed their professional training organised at the ESA. Special Advisor to Punjab CM Rana Maqbool Ahmad and Sui Northern gas pipeline Limited (SNGPL) Managing Director Ahmad Latif were the chief guests on the occasion while UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Pakistan head Dr Heli Uusikyla was the guest of honour. Punjab Emergency Service Director General Brig (r) Arshad Zia, ESA Director General Brig (r) Amir Hamza, AJK Civil Defence and Rescue 1122 Director General Zulfiqar Ali, GB Rescue 1122 Director General Dr Sher Aziz, ESA Registrar Dr Muhammad Farhan Khalid along with a large number of rescuers, their parents and friends attended the ceremony. The passing out cadets demonstrated their professional skills of emergency management during mock exercises of deep well rescue, water rescue, firefighting, urban search and rescue, rescue from confined spaces during smoke, rescue from height and medical emergency management. These cadets given specialised training in medical, rescue, firefighting and height rescue training in first phase while specialised courses were arranged for them in the fields of communication, medical first responder (MFR), collapsed structure search and rescue (CSSR), communication, incident command system and community safety training during the second phase. Speaking on the occasion, Rana Maqbool Ahmad said that rescuers were the brave sons of the soil, who put their lives in danger to save the lives of others. He asserted that he himself witnessed excellent professionalism of rescuers during accidents, floods and other disasters. He expressed deep gratitude over successful completion of training and congratulated Punjab Emergency Service Director General Brig (r) Dr Arshad Zia and ESA Director General Brig (r) Amir Hamza along with their teams for devotion and continuous struggle towards ensuring a safer Pakistan. He said that under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, the country was moving towards rapid progress and prosperity. He said that the CM has recently approved the project of establishment of urban search and rescue teams in all divisions of Punjab. “Two specialised teams in Lahore and Rawalpindi would be operational before the end of this year,” he said, adding that this credit for expansion of emergency services across the province goes to the credible leadership of Punjab government. Director General Amir Hamza congratulated the rescuers on completion of their training and thanked Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif for providing all out support in this regard. He revealed that owing to professional training, the performance of Rescue 1122 speaks for itself. He further congratulated the families and parents of the rescuers saying they should take pride that their scions have joined this lifesaving service.