India News | Afghan Woman Wins Gold Medal in MA from Gujarat Varsity

Surat, Mar 7 (PTI) The Taliban needs to understand that education and development are interlinked, said Razia Muradi, an Afghan woman who won a gold medal in Master of Arts (Public Administration) at the convocation of Veer Narmad South Gujarat University (VNSGU).

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Governor Acharya Devvrat awarded the gold medal to Muradi at a convocation ceremony here on Monday.

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Talking to PTI on Tuesday, Muradi said the Taliban in Afghanistan needs to mend its approach and understand the importance of education.

Muradi landed in India months before the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 2021 and came to Surat to pursue a Masters degree in Public Administration with the help of a scholarship offered by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations.

"Ideology and discriminative approach of the Taliban is the main problem. Life was normal before the Taliban came to Afghanistan. Girls were allowed to go to school and pursue higher education. There were no restrictions back then," she said.

"They (Taliban) need to understand that education and development are inter-linked. If they want a developed country, they need to respect the fundamental right to education," said Muradi, who has not visited her home country since her arrival in India.

After winning the gold medal, she called her parents back home and thanked them for their support.

After finishing her masters with flying colours, Muradi is now pursuing her PhD from the same varsity and hopes to return to Afghanistan someday.

"I hope everything settles down in my country till I finish my PhD so that I can return home and serve my motherland," she said.

Muradi was employed in an international organisation before she came to India and had all the freedom and opportunity to work and study in her country before the Taliban rule.

"I am worried about the situation of women in Afghanistan because they are deprived of their fundamental rights and they don't have the freedom to pursue their education. I appeal to the Taliban to allow women to live their normal lives and allow them to pursue education," she said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)