Peaceful Afghanistan, beneficial for Pakistan: President
The president said Afghanistan had gone through trails but no one could subjugate its people.
ISLAMABAD (APP) – President Dr Arif Alvi on Monday, re-affirming Pakistan’s continued support to establish peace in Afghanistan, said peaceful Afghanistan was beneficial for Pakistan.
The president was addressing a cultural event at Pak-China Friendship Center. The event ‘Payam-e-Subh’ was organized by Higher Education Commission (HEC) in context of ‘Allama Muhammad Iqbal Scholarships Programme for Afghan Nationals’.
He said Pakistan had been contributing in different development areas including education and health for a common goal of establishing peace and rebuilding Afghanistan.
The president hoped prospects of peace would gradually return to Afghanistan for which people had to be united. “Afghanistan will remain our brother and Pakistan wants whatever Afghan people want for their country”, he added.
The president said Pakistan and Afghanistan had common challenges of poverty, education, health and terrorism, and added collective efforts were required to get rid of these issues.
He said both brotherly countries had faced common issue of security.
Pakistan had curbed terrorism with national resolve and had sacrificed over 70,000 lives in fighting terrorism, he said adding Afghanistan had also received a huge damage, particularly in the past three decades.
The president said Afghanistan had gone through trails but no one could subjugate its people.
He said the resilient nations regained peace and prosperity with unanimous resolve to fight prevailing challenges. “No country in the world deserves peace as necessary as Afghanistan does,” he added.
He urged Afghan students, enrolled in Pakistani universities, to make concrete contribution in rebuilding their country on their return.
He emphasized that Afghan students were the elite class, who after acquiring higher education, would assume paramount responsibility of reconstruction and rehabilitation of Afghanistan.
The president lauded the efforts of HEC in accommodating and facilitating an increased number of Afghan students. He also expressed pleasure that female students’ strength was also increasing for getting admissions in Pakistani educational institutions.
The president expressed hope that Afghan students would become good ambassadors of Pakistan in Afghanistan and integral part of their country’s development.
Reiterating brotherhood between the two countries, the president said Pakistan had welcomed Afghan refugees at the time when the developed nations didn’t do so to others. He said Pakistan’s such generosity for had ordained.
Earlier, the president inaugurated official logo of Allama Muhammad Iqbal Scholarships for Afghan Nationals. Besides, high-ranked officials from HEC and Afghan embassy, a large number of Afghan students also attended the event.
