Court rejects petition against closure of Afghan universities

PESHAWAR: A division bench of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) has dismissed petitions challenging the closure of two Afghan universities in Peshawar city, adjacent to Afghan.


These universities, specially established for Afghan students were ordered to be closed, soon after the US missile attack on suspected camps of Osama Bin Laden, in anticipation of reprisal from his associates inside Pakistan.


Advocate Mohibullah Kakahel on behalf of Ahmed Shah Abdali University and Cenna International Medical College filed the petition.


The bench comprising Chief Justice of the PHC, Justice Mehboob Ali Khan, and Justice Mian Mohammad Ajmal reserved its judgement after completion of arguments by both the parties on September 9.


Mohibullah Kakahel in his arguments while terming the government's decision about the closure of these universities illegal, submitted that these educational institutions were operating in legal manner as they had got permission from the Afghan Refugees representative in Peshawar.


The syllabus of these universities, he said, was of the international level and could be compared to that to the Pakistani universities. Afghan government was also willing to recognize these institutions, he informed the court.


During the course of the hearing, the learned bench observed that when these universities were functioning for the Afghans, then they should have been established in Afghanistan.


Advocate General Sardar Khan argued that these private education institutions were in fact business concern, which had been illegally operating on the Pakistani soil.


He also informed the bench that prior to the closure of these institutions the administration had constituted a committee headed by a senior doctor which, after through inquiry, observed that standard of education in these institutions was not good. -NNI