MARDAN, Nov 1: The recent crisis in Afghanistan has not only brought untold miseries for the people in that country, but also for the students of the Afghan University in Peshawar (AUP).

It was closed for the non-availability of funds and the decision of the government to close down the educational institutions following the recent agitation in the province.

The idea of the AUP at Peshawar was floated by the then vice chancellor of Peshawar University, Farzand Ali Durrani, in 1995, when former interior minister Naseerullah Babar decided to close the five Afghan universities in Peshawar.

These five Afghan universities were the Ahmad Shah Abdali University, opened by Afghan scholar Dr Sangarwal, the Jihad University at Jalozai refugee camp affiliated with the Ittehad-i- Islami party of Abdur Rab Rasool Sayyaf, the Haiwad University opened by Syed Ahmad Gillani, leader of the National Liberation Front for Afghanistan, the Islamic University affiliated with Hazbi Islami party of Gulbaddin Hikmatyar and the Ummahatul Momineen University for Women opened by Ahmad Shah Masood.

Farzand Ali Durrani, who is consultant and project director of the AUP and now vice chancellor of the Greenwich University Peshawar, told Dawn that Naseerullah Babar decided to close all the Afghan universities in vengeance because Mullah Rakatti had kidnapped some officials of the Narcotics Control Board (NCB) in Balochistan and took them to Afghanistan.

Mr Durrani disclosed that he had suggested to the Benazir government that the closure of these universities would leave a very bad effect on Afghan students, therefore, the government should open a combined university for them. The former prime minister outrightly accepted the idea.

He disclosed that Ms Benazir Bhutto had sanctioned Rs 300 million for the AUP, but soon afterward her government was dismissed.

Durrani said that later he took up this problem with NWFP’s former chief minister Mahtab Ahmad Khan, adding that the government decided in 1998 to open the AUP in Peshawar.

Durrani said that the AUP might be opened shortly as the secretary of states and frontier regions (SAFRON), Shafqat Ezdi Shah, had shown some interest in its opening.