Peaceful Afghanistan, beneficial for Pakistan : President

ISLAMABAD, Apr 29 (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
their Afghan brothers in hardship, was a symbol of hospitality, Islam
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.