Pakistan announces 500 scholarships for Bangladeshi students

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has announced 500 scholarships for Bangladesh students in the first phase, ARY News reported on Tuesday.

Bangladesh and Pakistan — geographically divided by more than 1,500 kilometres (930 miles) by India — were once one nation. They split after a bitter war in 1971.

As per details, Pakistan and Bangladesh have reached a significant agreement in the field of education, enabling Bangladeshi students to pursue higher studies in Pakistan under a scholarship programme, the government announced.

Under the first phase of the initiative, 500 Bangladeshi students will be enrolled in various universities across Pakistan. These students will receive fully funded placements in undergraduate programmes across multiple cities.

The selection process saw a large number of Bangladeshi candidates participate in entrance tests conducted under the Higher Education Commission (HEC) in Chittagong, Dhaka, and Rajshahi.

The scholarship programme has been named the Allama Iqbal Scholarship, in honour of the renowned poet and philosopher, reflecting the strong educational and cultural ties between the two countries.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh and Pakistan are to resume direct flights after more than a decade, Dhaka’s national airline said, as ties warm and regional power balances shift.

Biman Bangladesh Airlines is scheduled to fly its first Dhaka–Karachi flight on January 29 and will be operated twice weekly, the first regular flights since 2012.

“We are relaunching the Dhaka–Karachi route with two weekly flights,” airline manager Bosra Islam told AFP on Thursday.