Political Education vital for better Pak-Afghan regional connectivity: Speakers

PESHAWAR, Sep 22 (APP):Speakers at the eighth International Summer School had stressed for importance of political education to ensure better regional connectivity for sustainable peace and development. The joint initiative titled, “The Importance of Regional Connectivity in the Pakistan-Afghan Border Region with a Focus on Bilateral Dialogue and Challenges” was aimed to bring together experts, students and young scholars from across the region to foster political and academic exchange. The moot was jointly organized by the Department of Political Science (PSUP) of the University of Peshawar and the Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSF) Pakistan here on Wednesday. While addressing the ceremony, Prof. Dr. Zahid Anwar, Dean Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Peshawar, greater understanding and interaction between the people of the two countries would enhance economic opportunities. Later, Resident Representative of HSF Pakistan, Dr. Steffen Kudella while talking to APP said political education is key for every democracy and to foster democratic institutions in a society. He emphasized on the importance of the civil society and social system participation in the democratic development process. He asked for youngsters to come forward with encouragement and guidance from the concerned sectors to become a productive part of political process. In this region, people were well-connected with their neighbors, maybe even betterconnected than ever before. He said HSF believes that the more people and governments interact, the more they need to work together in a responsible manner and create lasting political networks. In addition to that, he said HSF Pakistan would support talented Afghan refugee students with a under a newly launched programme which would offer scholarships opportunity to children Afghan refugees enrolled in Pakistani universities. Experts from different fields discussed a range of relevant topics during the training 13 Pakistani and 11 Afghan students. The topics of this training included, conflict resolution, countering violent extremism,good communication, migration, regional trade, the role of religion and media. The partaicipants of the moot would also visit Quaid-i-Azam University, and other academic places of Islamabad and Peshawar, and the HSF Pakistan Country Office besides site seeing of the famous historical places.\9329/22/2021 6:03:27 PM