LAHORE: Afghan ambassador to Pakistan Dr Omer Zakhilwal has said that Pakistan-Afghanistan relations’ ups and downs do not reflect the wishes of the people of the two countries and the grievances between the two countries are short-lived.
Talking to APP at the close of 3000 Higher Education Commission (HEC) scholarships to Afghan students’ award ceremony at a local hotel on Thursday, he said the bilateral misunderstandings were sure to vanish, adding that one or two decades of misgivings was a short period of time in the lives of nations.
The Afghan ambassador said the things were moving in the right direction on the diplomatic front and added that he was hopeful of better ties between the two countries.
He said the people to people relations between the two nations could not be destroyed by anybody, stressing that the tribal, linguistic, religious common historic relationships in trade and commerce will re-emerge into a strong bond.
Omer Zakhilwal said the improved bilateral relations were very important to both the countries and these students would serve as agents of change.
The diplomat said that the relations between the two countries were multi-dimensional and these 3000 thousand scholarships holders would multiply into thousands more when they would serve Afghanistan in different capacities in near future.
He said the bonds these students have established in Pakistan during their stay here would help strengthen the ties between the brotherly countries. He said the experience and expertise they had gotten in Pakistan would help in the rebuilding and reconstruction of Afghanistan.
He replied to a question there was no better way of strengthening the bilateral relationship between the two countries than extending educational scholarships to Afghan students.
Earlier, addressing the ceremony the Afghan ambassador said the both nations had common heroes in Ahmad Shah Abdali and Mehmood Ghazanvi, adding that the mystic Hazrat Ali Hajveri (Data Gunj Bakhsh) had his origins in Afghanistan.
