FO 'deplores' Indian advisory stopping students from seeking higher education in Pakistan
Pakistan on Monday slammed India's University Grants Commission for advising its students against travelling to Pakistan for the purpose of seeking higher education and sought a "clarification" from the Indian government over the matter.
The statement from the Foreign Office comes in the wake of a notice issued by the All lndia Council for Technical Education and University of Grants Commission of India warning that "Indian nationals or overseas Indian citizen who intended to take admissions in any Pakistani educational institute or degree programme would not be eligible for employment or higher education in India."
However, it added that migrants and their children who had received higher education in Pakistan would be eligible for seeking Indian employment, provided they were granted citizenship and obtained security clearance.
Pakistan strongly condemned the notice as "tyrannical authoritarianism".
"It is regrettable that driven by its incurable obsession with Pakistan, the Government of India is unabashedly coercing the students in order to deter them from pursuing quality education of their choice," the FO said.
It stated that the contents of the notice had exposed the BJP-RSS combine's deep-seated ideological animus and chronic hostility towards Pakistan.
"It is deplorable that as part of its mission 'Hindu Rashtra', the Indian government has resorted to such moves in order to stoke hyper-nationalism in the country."
The FO statement also said that Pakistan had sought clarification from the Indian government regarding the notice. "Pakistan reserves the right to take appropriate measures in response to this openly discriminatory and inexplicable action by India," it added.