Bangalore: - On February 13, 2015, St. Joseph’s College invited Deputy Chief of Mission M. Ashraf Haidari as Guest Chief to open a major cultural event marking International Students Day, organized for the first time by the College in its 132-year history. Mr. Haidari was joined by Sri Lankan Deputy High Commissioner Sabarullah Khan and Regional Director of the Indian Council for Cultural Relation (ICCR) N. Balasubramaniyan, while College Principal Dr. Praveen Martis, S.J., presided over the event, which was attended by a large crowd of Indian and international students from the College, as well as from the neighboring schools. The event featured remarks by the invited guests, followed by international cultural shows organized by the College’s students from over 20 countries, including Afghanistan with the largest number of students enrolled at the College.
In his opening remarks, Mr. Haidari congratulated the leadership of the College for undertaking such a major event, which he said would help enhance cultural cooperation between India, the region, and the rest of the world. He also appreciated the leading role Afghan students had played in organizing the event, including providing protocol services throughout Mr. Haidari’s productive visit to Bangalore.
Moreover, Mr. Haidari highlighted the “ancient, civilizational ties between Afghanistan and India,” and thanked the Indian Ministry of External Affairs for continuing to provide scholarships for qualified Afghan students to study at such notable universities as St. Joseph’s. He expressed hoped that the Indian Ministry of External Affairs and the Afghan Ministry of Higher Education would provide additional scholarships for qualified Afghan students to study at the College, which, he said, he had discussed with Principal Dr. Martis, S.J., whom, he said, had agreed with Mr. Haidari to take more students from Afghanistan.
“Education is a manifestation of cultural cooperation, and its’ through education that great minds, like all of you, come together in search of knowledge and then make vital contributions to the humanity,” Mr. Haidari told students. He recalled the timeless contribution made by electricity inventor, Thomas Edison, whose invention, he said, had now allowed “us all to benefit from it.” “And it’s through education that we can address the problems of radicalization and terrorism,” which, Mr. Haidari said, had been destabilizing Afghanistan, thereby affecting the whole region.
He also discussed the role of education in developing leadership, and praised the leadership skills the Afghan students had so far gained at the College, preparing them to drive ahead Afghanistan’s stabilization and development. He called each Afghan student a potential leader upon return home, and thanked the College for its emphasis on quality education to train and educate future leaders.
On Indo-Afghan ties, Mr. Haidari recalled his morning lecture hosted by the College’s Department of Political Science on “Indo-Afghan Relations in a Changing World: the Way Forward,” and praised the level of cooperation between Afghanistan and India within the framework of bilateral and multilateral agreements and partnerships. He pointed out that the leadership of the National Unity Government of Afghanistan was firmly committed to maintain strong ties with India, as President Ashraf Ghani and CEO Dr. Abdullah shared Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s commitment to using the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) as an effective platform to address the challenges confronting South Asia.
Mr. Haidari advised Indian and foreign students to stay in touch with one another, and to work for peace and stability in the world, once they were in positions of policymaking and influence. “India is indeed an incredible place, and I’m sure you will take with you the lessons of India on tolerance, co-existence, and cultural pluralism, and apply them in your societies,” he noted. He asked Afghan students to continue staying in touch with their Embassy in Delhi, which, he said, is always at their service to help them achieve their academic goals while in India.
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