ISLAMABAD, Jan 3: Students of different educational institutions of the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) on Thursday donated relief goods worth Rs10 million for the Afghan refugees.

A convoy of 12 trucks loaded with relief goods were handed over to the chief commissioner, Afghan refugees at a ceremony held at the parade avenue, opposite Parliament House.

The donations have been collected by the students of 451 schools affiliated with the Federal Directorate of Education, in response to the call of President Pervez Musharraf to help the Afghan refugees.

The students of these schools have collected 14 trucks of goods out of which 2 trucks were distributed among the Afghan refugees by Begum Sehba Pervez, earlier at a ceremony held at the Islamabad College for Girls F-10/2.

The donations will be distributed among 70,000 refugees in Haripur.

The relief goods consist 2,160 quilts, 1000 blankets, 300 mattresses, 731 sweaters, 1369 ready-made suits, 1131 meters of unstitched cloths, 1078kg pulses, 9,600kg wheat flour, 4360kg rice, 564kg tea, 38kg porridge food, 1109kg oil, 700 shoes and 676 pieces of miscellaneous cloths and other material of daily use.

Speaking on the occasion, Federal Education Minister Zobaida Jalal appreciated the spirit shown by the students and said, “people understand the miseries of Afghan refugees and their children who were living in camps and have never seen their motherland for the last 23 years.”

Ms Jalal also suggested that arrangements should be made so that the students could visit different refugees camp to understand the problems of the displaced Afghans.

The Afghan refugees chief commissioner, Syed Asif Ali Shah, received the goods and appreciated the spirit of the students. He hoped that the students of other institutions would follow suit in reaching out the needy people.

He said that the gesture was reflection of the fact that the people, specially the children, realized the problems of the Afghan displaced people and their children and were always ready to sacrifice and shoulder their problems.

Earlier the FDE director-general, Brig (Rtd) Maqsoodul Hassan, thanked the students, principals, teachers and the staff of different schools who generously donated and helped in generating the relief goods for the Afghan refugees.

The principal, Islamabad Model College for Girls, F-10/2, Shaista Pirzada expressed the hope that the spirit demonstrated by the children would also be followed by the entire nation.