‘5,000 Afghan girls may get scholarships in Pakistan’

PESHAWAR: Afghan Consul General Muhammad Moeen Marastial on Thursday said that he was in contact with his government to arrange scholarships for 5,000 Afghan refugee girls in different educational institutions in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

"The Afghan government is committed to educating girls including those living in various refugees camps in Pakistan," the diplomat told an event at the Area Study Centre at the University of Peshawar where Afghanistan and Pak-Afghan relations were discussed.

Moeen Marastial maintained that 70 schools in the refugees' camps in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were not enough for nearly two million refugees. He stressed the need for exchange programmes at every level between Pakistan and Afghanistan to improve relations among the two neighbours.

"Youth and intellectuals and civil society members will be good tools to remove misunderstanding between our neighbouring countries," he added. "We should not rely solely on the government-to-government contacts but citizens should take initiatives for strong ties," he remarked. He said the war in Afghanistan was not his country's war. "It is the war of powerful countries which is being fought in Afghanistan," he added.

"The religious conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran, the political tension between the US and Russia, China's quest to bring its economy on parity with the US and the problem between Pakistan and India became the causes of war in Afghanistan." He claimed that Pakistan and Afghanistan were the victims of the war and suggested arranging more discussions between the people of the two countries.

Dr Khalilur Rehman of the Area Study Centre explained the Pak-Afghan relations using an Urdu metaphor, which says that the dove hatches egg while the crow eats it. He said that Pakistanis and Afghans were the eggs and the foreigners were the crows eating them for the last few decades. He added "the distrust between Pakistanis and Afghans is massive because of these crows." He said in mid-2000, Pakistan started to change the orbit, which was now complete. "Pakistan is now in the Chinese orbit instead of the western orbit."

UNHCR representatives disclosed the figures about Afghan refugees in Pakistan. They said that Pakistan had started documenting unregistered Afghans, adding that 500,000 Afghans have been registered so far.

They added this data would be shared with the Afghan government that would issue e-passports and Pakistan would issue visas for their stay in the country. Other speakers stressed on taking advantage of the common history, ethnicity and culture for improving relations. Some others said that China's One Belt, One Road project would help change the future of Afghanistan.