In protest of NATO attacks on tribal areas, a Pakistani student Samad Khurram has refused his Harvard University scholarship award presented to him by American Ambassador Anne W Patterson. Khurram refused the award, which was presented in an event held by a private collage at the National Art Gallery Islamabad, as a protest against the recently carried out American attacks on Mohmand Agency. The American Ambassador greatly regretted these attacks, terming them a “terrible misunderstanding.” She refuted the notion that the student was refusing the award, maintaining that currently there were 5,400 Pakistani students studying in America. The entire hall resounded with thunderous clapping for the student who was later on restricted by the management to talk to any media person. While speaking at the Annual Student Recognition Day of Roots College International, Ms Patterson underscored the need for people-to-people ties to strengthen the relationship between Pakistan and the US. “There is a myth that American universities are hesitant to accept students from Pakistan,” she told graduates of the Roots Schools System who had received private scholarships to study in the US and other countries. “All together, 5,400 students from Pakistan studied at US colleges and universities last year.” Congratulating the management of the Roots School System for 20 years of outstanding service in educating young people in Pakistan, the Ambassador said she was impressed that Roots students had earned full scholarships to selective universities such as Yale, Harvard, Princeton and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. __
