As many as 3,000 higher education scholarships will be offered to Afghan students in Pakistan in each batch under the Allama Muhammad Iqbal Scholarship Programme.This was announced by Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HEC) Chairman Dr Mukhtar Ahmed. This year, the scholarships have been extended to MPhil and PhD programmes. Dr Ahmed was speaking at an award ceremony for the second batch of 3,000 Afghan students on Thursday. The occasion was presided over by Punjab Governor Malik Muhammad Rafiq Rajwana and Afghan Ambassador Omer Zakhilwal.Also present on the occasion were Afghan Education Minister’s Adviser Amanullah Faqiri and Ambassador of Pakistan to Afghanistan Zahid Nasrullah Khan.Under the Allama Muhammad Iqbal Scholarship Programme, the students would pursue their higher education at different universities of Pakistan in various fields including medicine, engineering, agriculture, management and computer science etc.These scholarships, awarded over a period of five years, were offered after the success of the first phase of the programme which was launched in 2009. Those students, awarded scholarships in the first phase, completed their studies and returned to Afghanistan.Dr Mukhtar welcomed the students who had been selected for fully-funded scholarships at the top universities of Pakistan. The chairman said the HEC, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education in Afghanistan, conducted tests in the neighbouring country and these candidates were selected for the first phase of the scholarship. “Moreover, the merit list for MPhil and PhD programmes was also in process,” he added.In his closing remarks, the HEC chairman maintained that his organisation believed in person-to-person and institution-to-institution relations. “This is why we are working on inviting Afghan faculty members of their universities to stay, live and work here in Pakistan. HEC will provide support in quality assurance and human resource development of the Afghan education system. Now, time had come to spend energies on constructive things instead of wasting time on destruction,” he added.Meanwhile, Punjab Governor Rafiq Rajwana said Pakistan was proud of hosting Afghan students in Pakistani universities. “After the completion of their studies in Pakistan, these young minds will become ambassadors of Pakistan to Afghanistan.”The governor stressed that young Afghan students were the future of Afghanistan. “The more we invest in them, the greater will be our contribution in the capacity-building of Afghanistan,” he added.Amanullah Faqiri told students that he was also a business administration graduate from a Pakistani university. He asked students to be agents of change and take back their memories and messages of peace back home.Omer Zakhilwal congratulated HEC for the ceremony and successful completion of Phase-I of the scholarship scheme and the launch of the second phase. He said Allama Iqbal was equally appraised, accredited and respected in Afghanistan as in Pakistan.He said the relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan were multidimensional. “We are celebrating one important dimension of student exchange. It is the desire and wish of our people to keep good relations with Pakistanis.”Zahid Nasrullah Khan said that literacy rate of women in Afghanistan was very low. “That is why the government of Pakistan is offering 100 dedicated scholarships to women Afghan students. No nation can progress without providing education to their women”. He said the embassy of Pakistan to Afghanistan had a dedicated officer to provide assistance to Afghan students. He further stated that every month, the embassy of Pakistan to Afghanistan was issuing 3,000 visas monthly and 350,000 annually. “The Afghan students who were given scholarships in Phase-I of the scheme also shared their opinions about the overall experience of studying in Pakistan.Published in The Express Tribune, September 29, 2017.