The East Zone Students’ Peace Dialogue Meeting Was Held

The first round of Peace Dialogue between students was held at the Nangarhar University with the participation of the Director for Provincial Coordination of the Local Governance Directorate, Deputy Governor of Nangarhar Province, Head of the East Zone Ulema Council, Director of the East Zone of the State Ministry for Peace, heads and deputies of Eastern Zone universities, Regional Director of the Independent Administrative Reform and Civil Service Commission, women’s rights activists, civil society representatives, members of the Ulema Council, professors of Nangarhar University, and representatives of the East Zone media.
This meeting, organized by the State Ministry for Peace, was attended by 40 students from four governmental universities in the country’s eastern zone and shared their views on the peace process.
At the beginning of the program, Prof. Dr. Khalil Ahmad Behsudwal, Chancellor of Nangarhar University, said that the “Peace Dialogue” could raise students’ awareness and that students could make suggestions for peace.
Prof. Behsudwal added that the Peace Dialogue had provided an opportunity for male and female students to participate in the peace process.
Habiba Kakar, Deputy Governor of Nangarhar, while thanking the State Ministry for Peace for organizing this event, said: “All people are tired of war and are thirst for peace.”
Referring to the importance of peace in the society, Ms. Kakar added that Afghans want a peace that respects all citizens’ rights.
Baset Hafezi, Capital Region Director of the State Ministry for Peace and in charge of the “Peace Dialogue” program, expressed his pleasure that the program is being implemented in academic centers among elite students.
Mr. Hafezi emphasized that the struggle for peace is not only the government’s responsibility; rather, the movement for peace should be a popular movement so that the society can reach prosperity and progress.
He stated that the State Ministry for Peace wants the participation of all segments of the society in the peace process so that the people’s views and suggestions make the government’s peace activities inclusive and that these views are used at the negotiation table.
Mr. Hafezi further said that the purpose of holding the students’ peace dialogue is to create an opportunity for the exchange of views between university students and to collect their opinions so that they could be used in the peace process and could be shared with the Negotiation Team of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.
He added that this dialogue would have 5000 direct beneficiaries and 50000 indirect beneficiaries.
The students then gave speeches, and panel members, including a representative of civil society, a representative of the Administrative Reform Commission, a representative of the Nangarhar governor, chancellors of the relevant universities, and a representative of the State Ministry for Peace, gave each one a grade. As a result, two students were selected from each university.
To conduct this dialogue, the students had shared their application for participation with their provincial universities, and the Joint Selection Committee had selected ten students at the provincial level to participate in the dialogue.
It is noteworthy that after concluding the peace dialogue meetings in eight zones, the national peace dialogue of students would be held soon in Kabul with the participation of students from all government universities in the country.