KABUL - Hundreds of youth participated at a conference earlier this week in southeastern Paktya province, organized by UNAMA with the aim of encouraging them to contribute to Afghanistan’s development and promotion of peace and human rights.

The one-day gathering, which was aired live by local radio and television stations, saw active participation of about 400 youth including university and school students, members of the civil society and Government officials, among others.

University professors, intellectuals and elders spoke on some of the most pressing issues of Afghanistan such as peace and reconciliation, good governance, women’s rights and social harmony, and the critical role the youth could play in those areas.

Similar event is planned in the neighbouring Khost province later this month.

“Some miscreants have been propagating poisonous views into the society and break our national unity and this is our youths’ core responsibility to nip this evil in the bud,” said Habibullah Rafee, a scholar and a member of the Academy of Sciences.

Asadullah Ghazanfar, Law and Political Science professor at Kabul University, said youth could make the driving force for social change. “Fresh minds bear new thoughts and ideas, much more than the elderly, for bringing evolution, betterment of the society,” said Mr. Ghazanfar, urging the youth to tolerate views of the opponents.

“You have to be social…you ought to adjust yourselves according to the changing circumstances because stagnation is the second name of death,” Mr Ghazanfar argued.

The Paktya University Chancellor, Abdul Khaliq Farahi, concluded: “Though we have no sufficient human and financial capital, you have to obtain more with fewer resources and actively participate in the economic development of the country, education, health and human rights protection.”

By UNAMA Gardez