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Pakistan Releases Rs.1.5 Billion In Grants For Afghan University Students

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The Pakistani Prime Minister’s Special Representative for Afghanistan said on Thursday that the Pakistani government had released Rs1.551 billion to the Higher Education Commission in scholarship grants for Afghan students currently studying in Pakistani universitites.

The Pakistani Higher Education Comission announced last year it would provide around 3,000 scholarships to Afghan students in Pakistan under a four-year program. Last year, around 1,000 Afghan students were also provided scholarships as part of the Higher Education Comissions’s Allama Iqbal Scholarship Programme. Several similar programs have been launched by the Pakistani government in previous years whereby selected students from Afghanistan have been able to study in universities across Pakistan.

“Government has released Rs.1.551 billion to HEC to meet expenses of Afghan students who are studying under Pakistan’s scholarship program,” the Prime Minister’s special envoy to Kabul, Mohammad Sadiq, wrote on Twitter. “This important program for Afghan youth was starving for resources over last several months due to paucity of funds.”

People from both sides of the Durrand line were seen appreciating the decision and hoped for better relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Some people, however, did not agree to the decision and were of the view that funding Afghan students won’t bring any good to Pakistan. Here’s what they had to say:

About three million Afghan refugees live in Pakistan, with more in the neighboring country Iran, many of them struggle to get full access to basic health, education and employment.

 Pakistan has hosted Afghan refugees for over 40 years and since 1979, it has regularly been the world’s top refugee-hosting country. But the hate between the two countries never seems to be coming to an end.

Needless to say, there are black sheep in every flock but this move by the Pakistani government is a good gesture and must be appreciated. Thousands of Afghan students, if educated and sponsored by Pakistan would help Pakistan to a great extent in eradicating the hate towards Pakistan and strengthen relations with Afghanistan.

As Muslims, we should help each other rather than hating on each other. That’s what we do. And if an Afghan does something against the law, he should be the one taking the blame and not the entire country or ethnicity. Same goes for Pakistanis.

Also read: This Afghan Refugee Doctor Is Breaking Barriers To Save Lives of Coronavirus Patients in Pakistan

History, Culture and Cross-Border Migration: Afghan Refugees’ Cultural Impact On Pakistan

Feature and Social media image credits: United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan


Stasu Raaye

News Desk

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