It is very heartening as well as my first time to be sitting across an assembly of youth from across the border. I will definitely report to the parliament about this and ask them to create a parliamentary caucus for Pak-Afghan relations, Member of parliament Mehnaz Akbar Aziz stated this while speaking to a gathering of Pakistani and Afghan youth alongside high-level distinguished speakers from both countries at the Youth Summit, organised by Afghan Studies Centre in Islamabad on Friday.
The summit focused on connecting youth beyond borders to work for a better tomorrow and was attended by a high-profile 13-member visiting Afghan delegation and young representatives from High Peace Council, Kabul.
Former member of Afghan parliament Khalid Pashtoon, heading a visiting high-profile Afghan delegation also present, expressed that he was delighted to see the youth of Pakistan and Afghanistan together under one roof. “This opens the roads for consensus towards a better and progressive future. Both countries were very close few decades ago, then bad things happened and there emerged a space between us two neighbours. Though, we miss those old days, when we used to be like twin brothers. However, I hope that once peace prevails in Afghanistan in the context of Doha talks, the two nations would get closer once again. Most of the issues between Kabul and Islamabad are linked with security; once the security issue is resolved in the bigger picture, everything else will fall in place,” he said, giving hope the youngsters present.
Former Afghan lawmaker stresses need for give youth a hope so that they can play a key role in bringing sustainable peace
Pashtoon further stated that, in recent years, a lot has been done regarding bilateral relations. “We have come a long way. One such example is of the opening of the Torkham border round the clock. It will help facilitate cross-border mobility and will also increase the trade volume. The surge in trade will result in increased profits across the border; reinforcing peace and better bilateral relation. It is our responsibility to give the youth a hope, so that they can play a key role in bringing sustainable peace,” added former Afghan legislator.
Nargis Taraki and Hijratullah Tahir, young emerging leaders, representing Afghanistan’s High Peace Council, who travelled with a 5-member delegation all the way from Kabul thanked Afghan Studies Centre (ASC) – established in April 2017 to give a platform to the youth of Pakistan and Afghanistan – for hosting them and organizing such a wonderful event for youth, where youngsters are starved for such events. She also suggested to have such gatherings in Afghanistan as well, in order to move one step forward in consolidating linkages between the youth of Kabul and Islamabad.
Saleem Khan Kunduzi, former governor of Nangarhar, put a great responsibility on youth in harnessing peace and development. He assured that youth can play a decisive role in shaping the future of their countries. “You should not think that you cannot bring change just because you are not in power corridors. Remember the power of people is more than the people in power”, stated Kunduzi while motivating the youngsters to play more active role in their respective communities.
On educational linkages, Dr Huma Baqai, another distinguished speaker, shared that the Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan has been committed in facilitating Afghan students to avail educational opportunities across all educational institutions in Pakistan. “HEC is providing 3000 scholarships for students from across the border. Afghans youth have quotas in nearly every university in Pakistan. This is the way forward. We do not know the value for education and the spill-over effects of the educational linkages yet,” she added.
In the interactive Q & A session, young minds from Afghanistan and Pakistan posed many questions in front of the distinguished panel and some had comments and suggestions. The questions were mainly about visa issues, more scholarship opportunities for Afghan students – for females in particular, blame-game in the media and bilateral trade. The panellists responded that Afghans should not forget that Pakistan is not a developed country; Pakistan has resource constraints and bureaucratic problems and many other issues. Yet, Pakistan is doing whatever it can in its limited capacity and both countries have a come a long way in last few years.
There has been a lot of progress regarding visa easement. HEC has allocated 30% scholarships exclusively for Afghans, issues regarding bilateral trades are being discussed and mechanisms are being put in place. So, a lot is happening. We just need to be patient and build on confidence building measures and move forward further and further, panellists apprised the youth present of the latest developments.
Other members of Afghan delegation, which was invited for the 17th meeting of ASC’s sister organization Centre for Research and Security Studies’ (CRSS) Pakistan-Afghanistan Track 1.5/II initiative Beyond Boundaries, included Eng. Kamal Safi; Member of Parliament (Kunduz), Gul Ahmad Kamin; Member of Parliament (Kandahar), Gulali Noor Safi; Senator and Member of Afghanistan Cricket Board, Maj Gen (r) Afzal Aman; Former Deputy Minister of Defence, Laila Jaffari; Member of High Peace Council, Fawzia Ehsani; Former Deputy Minister, Mozammil Shinwari; Honorary Advisor, Former Deputy Minister for Trade / Chief Executive OESP, Pamir Patang; Security Expert, and Waris Hasrat; Senior Journalist Ariana Television Network News.
A day earlier, Afghan and Pakistani delegates visited Quiad-i-Azam University (QAU) and National University of Science and Technology (NUST), Islamabad to interact with the youth and faculty members to discuss Pak-Afghan detente and the Afghan peace process. The interactions aimed at sensitising them on the latest developments regarding the aforementioned themes, so that the conversation can be taken forward to the class room settings and youth can be cognizant of the need for friendly neighbourhood, and complexities of bilateral relations.
