PESHAWAR, March 8: Afghan Consul-General Abdul Khaliq Farahi has called upon women to pay attention to education of their children, which, he said, was the only way to root out ignorance and violence.

He was speaking at a function held at the Afghan consulate here on Wednesday to mark the International Women’s Day. The function was attended by a large number of Afghan women.

Mr Farahi said that Afghan women had suffered most during previous regimes. They had been deprived of their basic rights, including the right to education, and were not allowed even to come out of their homes.

However, he said women were now being given representation in the Afghan parliament and a special quota had been reserved for women in government jobs. He said that the Afghan government had appointed a woman as governor of Bamyan province.

He said that terrorists wanted to push Afghanistan back into the mediaeval age, as they were torching schools and attacking working women. However, he said, the government was encouraging women and giving them equal development opportunities.

Earlier, Afghan scholars and women activists expressed their views on women’s rights.

The Afghan Cultural Foundation arranged an exhibition in which various historical and cultural items, books and antiques were displayed.