Arfa Karim Shows Signs of Life

Arfa Karim has Mashallah achieved so much at a very young age and brought fame and pride to Pakistan. This little girl now is on death bed and  I pray to Almighty Allah for her complete recovery and may she fight back and bring more glory and happiness in our lives.

ISLAMABAD — Arifa Karim, Pakistan’s pride who became world’s youngest Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) at 9 in 2004 continues to be in critical condition in death’s icy hands at CMH hospital in Lahore since she suffered cardiac arrest on December 22.

On Friday night, however, Arifa showed signs of life a day after doctors gave up all hope for her survival and suggested switching off her life support saying there was ‘no hope’.

“Arifa started showing some brain activity and twitched her fingers, her father Lt-Col. (Retd) Amjad Karim Randhawa,” told journalists.

The youngest-ever Microsoft certified professional, however, is still in critical condition, he said.

Doctors at the hospital said she was completely normal when she suddenly had an epileptic attack and was shifted to the Combined Military Hospital in Lahore. On December 28 she became unconscious and was put on ventilator. The family has been receiving calls from across the world for Arifa’s health and prayers for her recovery, her father said.

Born in 1995, Arifa became the youngest MCP in the world at the age of 9. The MCP involves building programmes into broader systems for business. Arifa was invited by Bill Gates to visit the Microsoft Headquarters in the USA when she was only 10-year-old. In August 2005, Arifa was also awarded the Fatima Jinnah Gold Medal in the field of Science and Technology by then Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz. She also received the Salaam Pakistan Youth Award again in 2005 set up by Pakistan’s only Nobel laureate Dr Abdul Salam. She is also the recipient of the Presidential Award for Pride of Performance.

Arifa represented Pakistan on various international fora. She was invited by the IT Professionals of Dubai for a stay of two weeks in Dubai. During that trip, Arifa was presented with various medals and awards.

She also flew a plane at a flying club in Dubai at the age of 10, and received the first flight certificate. In November 2006, Arifa was invited by Microsoft to be a part of the keynote session in the Tech-Ed Developers conference held in Barcelona. The theme of the conference was “Get ahead of the game” and Arifa was presented as a true specimen of being ahead of the game. She was the only Pakistani among over 5,000 developers in that conference. – Counrtesy Khaleej Times

Bill Gates Hires Doctors for Arfa Kareem

According to her father Col Karim Microsoft contacted him and offered help. Directed by Bill Gates, the firm has hired doctors who would co-ordinate with the Pakistani doctors through vidoe conference and they may come to Pakistan if needed. Read more.

Technorati Tags: arfa karim, arifa, Bill Gtes hires doctors for arifa, youngest Microsoft Certified Professional

Dr Umar Saif among "World’s Top Young Innovators for the year 2011"

Congratulations to Dr. Umar Saif, a professor at LUMS,  who has been recognized by MIT Technology Review amongst`World`s Top 35 Young Innovators for the year 2011 for his peer to peer file sharing software BitMate. By featuring in the list, Saif now joins an elite group of researchers and technologists including the likes of Google’s Sergey Brin and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg.

MIT Technology Review selects the top innovators after a rigorous evaluation process. The judges, who are leading experts in their fields from universities such as MIT, Stanford and Harvard, consider hundreds of high-impact researchers and entrepreneurs from all over the world, out of which top 35 are chosen for the award. “This year’s group of TR35 recipients is driving the next wave of transformative technology and making an impact on the way we live, work and interact”, said Jason Pontin, editor-in-chief and publisher of the MIT Technology Review.

In the last decade, this is the first time a Pakistani has been selected for the prestigious TR35 award, says a press release issued on Tuesday. “The TR35 recognizes the world’s top 35 young innovators that are radically transforming technology as we know it. Their work – spanning medicine, computing, communications, energy, electronics and nanotechnology — is changing our world,” according to MIT Technology Review.

Dr Saif holds a BSc. from the Lahore University of Management Sciences and Ph.D. in Computer Science from University of Cambridge, where he was a Commonwealth Scholar at Trinity College. Saif is a tenured associate professor at the Lahore University of Management Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan and established one of the first startup incubators in Pakistan, called the Saif Center of Innovation (SCI)^. Saif’s work on grassroots technologies received the MIT Technovator Award in 2008.

Dr Saif has won numerous awards for his innovative technology solutions for the developing-world. He was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2010. He is a recipient of the MIT Technovator Award, Mark Weiser Award, Digital Inclusion Award from Microsoft Research and the IDG Technology Pioneer Award. Before moving to Pakistan, Saif worked at MIT and received a PhD from the University of Cambridge. He is a Fellow of the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust. More.

Saif is working on some incredibly innovative start ups right now.One of his projects, SMSall.pk is like Twitter and it was fanning out at an exponential rate in Pakistan. Othe project uses mobile phone cameras to allow illiterate people to understand English. People can take pictures of English text – newspaper clippings, labels, anything – from any cell phone, MMS it to a number and they will get a call back that that reads out the text to them in Urdu.

Best of all, Pakistan need not fear losing Saif to any other country. Because he has no plans to move his home base out of Pakistan. Even though he spends some time visiting other universities to get some work done, Saif says that he is in Pakistan to stay permanently.

Technorati Tags: bonzai trees, Dr umar saif, LUMS, MIT technology review, MIT Technovator award, SMSall.pk, young global leader by the wrld economic forum 2010

MoinAkhtar dies

Moin Akhtar is one man we all knew, loved and respected. He has spread happiness and laughter for so many years. The news of his death is shocking for me. We have lost a great actor, comedian and a great human being.  Please pray for his soul. May Allah bless him with the best place in heaven.

He was 61 years old and was under treatment at Combined Military Hospital (CMH) for a heart disease.

The Nation writes, In last one month Pakistan has lost its several Big Actors and Comedians like Babu Baral, Liaquat Soldier and Mastana and latest shocking news is that another famous Actor Moin Akhtar has also died due to heart attack today. Moin Akhtar was facing heart disease from a long time. He was shifted to Hospital earlier today due to heart pain but he died in few hours of pain.

The News writes, A highly dynamic and versatile performer from Karachi, Moin Akhtar made his debut appearance on PTV on 6 September 1966, in a variety show telecast on the occasion of the first defense day of Pakistan. Since then, he had performed numerous roles in TV plays/shows and later teamed up with Anwar Maqsood and Bushra Ansari to get an overwhelming public applause.

Whether on the stage or on the screen, Moin Akhtar was one of the most sought after actors in Pakistani entertainment industry. His apparent attempts to avoid vulgar in his humor has rendered him a favorite amongst family audiences.

He is an inspiration for the generations to come and is one of the few that stands out so distinguishably. Akhtar was fluent in several languages, including English, Bengali, Sindhi, Punjabi, Memon, Pushto, Gujarati and others, while in the Urdu-speaking world, he is beloved for providing humor for people of all ages, and with an etiquette that remains unmatched.

In an old interview in Arab News Moin Akhtar’s conversation was punctuated with thankfulness to Allah and references to the Qur’an. There were rumors that he has become very religious and is planning to quit. Was that true?

“What do you mean I’ve become religious? I am a born Muslim.” He said a bit angrily, then simmering down, he added, “You can say I have made a conscious decision not to do shows that are female dominated or vulgar and cheap.

Who makes Moin Akhtar laugh? “Writer Mushtaq Yusufi. He has very clean and simple humor for instance,” he says. If you see a man open the car door for his wife, you should know, either the car is new or he has a new wife.”

Technorati Tags: moin Akhtar, moin akhtar dies, pakistni actor

Hina Dilpazeer

People say that Hina Dilpazeer gets all the brilliant roles but I disagree….she makes them brilliant by performing so well. From her first role in ‘ Barnas road ki Nilofar‘ till ‘bulbalay‘ she hits a sixer every time. Pakistani drama has got an ace in the form of Hina Dilpazeer.
After Burnas Road ki Nilofar and the unprecedented success, offers and
opportunities, there’s been no looking back for her. Madam Rizwana and Baby
Shabana, Bichhu Phuppi, Veena and momo, to name just a few, are just some of Hina’s best work on television.The reason of such powerful performances in her own words are :

“I have always wanted to live many lives in this one life; lives of the rich,
the impoverished, the disabled and even the blessed. Any interesting person who catches my attention, I try and enter his or her world through my imagination, curious to know how I would feel in their situation. I have always been like this, I would get told off for what appeared to others like I was imitating them but in reality I was so deeply absorbed in a fascinating character that I would be subconsciously following mannerisms, gestures and gait. I always wanted to become the medium to deliver those feelings, sensitivities and stories to audiences.”

Watching ‘Shakoor Sahib’ I felt her versatile acting skills  gives a  writer the freedom to adopt and conceive roles no one has ever done before on pakistani tv.   She has also shattered the stereotype and set the ball rolling for character actresses who share the spotlight with the lead pair and are just as popular with the viewers. Rarely does the ‘size zero’ and ‘make up’ obsessed media allow a female to play such diverse roles with such freedom!

Hina Dilpazeer has the ability to grab all the attention in the drama. Amazing thing is that one goes not get to know the real Hina Dilpazeer in any of these roles. When I first saw her giving an interview I was quite surprised to find that  she is a groomed, decent and educated lady who looked and sounded completely different from all her acts. Good job Hina!

Technorati Tags: barnas road ki nilofur, bulbulay, hina dilpazeer, shakoor sahib pakistani actress

Floods in Pakistan

Heroes are born in special circumstances….”jab waqt hum ko aazmata hai …” I wish to write about some people whose deeds will Inshallah lift the spirits of this Pakistani nation who is used to getting sad news daily. A nation which has men like Imran Khan, Malik Riaz, Talat Hussain, Kashif Abbasi, Ibrar ul Haq Fakhr-e-Alam and countless silent hands helping them cannot be declared a failed state. These are a few people I am mentioning but believe me whole Pakistan has come together and their efforts will show the world how a poor country like us can manage a huge disaster.

Malik Riaz

Malik Riaz has announced to give $ 2 billion for flood effectees!!! Chairman Bahria Town, Malik Riaz Hussain announced the donation of 75% of all his assets for the relief and rehabilitation of flood victims.

Pakistan Observer further states “In an exclusive interview with CNN, Malik Riaz Hussain announced unprecedented amount of US$ 2 Billion to the cause of helping the flood victims and elaborated the severity of the calamity damaging the agriculture and economy of the country to the extent of 60 percent. When the anchor person of CNN reconfirmed whether Malik Riaz Hussain would donate US$ 2 billion he not. not. Only confirmed but went a step further saying “ ever more”. Chairman Bahria Town dwelled on the massive poverty the country is facing and the relevant social issues that arise out of it. billionaires of Pakistan to come forward and help their country. “If 140 rich Pakistanis come together and commit to alleviating poverty, then this grave national problem could be solved within days he said.”

“He said if approached Bahria Town will construct these houses on no profit basis. Infact he is ready to donate more from his pocket for this cause. He suggested a special team should be established to monitor funds utilization & quality of the houses being constructed. Speaking of Bahria Town’s ongoing efforts for the poor, Malik Riaz Hussain said his company presently provides 150 thousand free daily meals, free Healthcare to 80 thousand individuals, everyday. They are also providing them relief goods including tents, utensils, daily items etc. He said “And I am ready to spend my each every penny for this purpose, because if my people are out of food, out of houses, I cannot sleep.”

pukar

Imran Khan is one man who won our hearts and respect after winning the Cricket World cup and making Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital. Our cricket team never recovered from his lose. Now when Imran is calling people to come together and help the flood victims, there are few who doubt his credibility. He has joined hands with MRKF for helping flood victims by collecting donations in cash and kind. I heard on Geo tv that Pukar already collected 36 crore rupees! If you want to give donations or want to know how much is raised so far and how is it distributed then check   www.imrankhanfoundation.org

Imran Khan said that funds would be distributed in a transparent way. He said the programme would devise short and long term strategies, adding that, in the short term, necessary items would be distributed among the flood victims, while the long-term strategy would focus on rehabilitation of the displaced people. The PTI chairman said that volunteers are being invited to assist in relief activities.

Talat hussain/Kashif Abbasi

Syed Talat Hussain of Aaj tv and Kashif Abbasi are two brave men who do not watch flood effected areas on tv like us BUT they go there to cover these news stories and meet people on ground.  Talat Hussain seems to be the most serious and genuine man hosting a current affairs show on tv. You can check Aaj Relief for accurate information about where your donation is going and you can even see the recently updated bank statement of their joint account established for flood relief. Account details and recent shows are posted here. Talat Hussain/ Kashif Abbasi Account details for flood relief. Join hands with such young and vibrant people even if you do not have the money you can work as volunteers!

Technorati Tags: aaj relief, aaj tv, amazing pakistanis, bahria town, cash donations for flood victims, flood pakistan, flood victims, imran khan, kashif Abassi, malik riaz hussain, pukaar, takat hussain

imran khan

I don’t have to do this,” Imran Khan tells me earnestly. “I could have a very easy existence. I could go on TV and make so much money, live like a king.” Instead the retired international cricketer, and former husband of Jemima Khan, has dedicated his life to politics back home in Pakistan. Jemima, the daughter of the late financier, Sir James Goldsmith, may just have bought a £15 million stately pile in Oxfordshire, but Imran lives hand-to-mouth on a farm outside Islamabad. He grows his own vegetables and tends cows on his land in the foothills of the Himalayas.

Since he founded his party, Tehreek-e-Insaf (the Movement for Justice), in 1996 on an anti-corruption platform, he has campaigned against the elite hogging all the resources. He personally sold all his cricketing memorabilia to fund a cancer hospital in memory of his mother, who died of the disease, and he has opened a vocational college in a poverty-stricken area of Pakistan.

Imran, 57, took nothing from Jemima’s fortune when they divorced, so when he runs out of money he does a brief stint as a TV pundit. But he is completely unmaterialistic. “You achieve inner peace when you give away what you have,” he says.

This week he is in London to talk about the crisis in Pakistan, but he has never liked city life. His parents used to take him up in the hills each summer as a boy, and now he takes his sons Sulaiman, 13, and Kasim, 10, hiking and shooting partridge when they visit his farm. He has built them a mini-cricket ground. “They are quite good,” he laughs.

Gone is the handsome playboy who spent his nights in Annabel’s and squired gorgeous women, including Susannah Constantine and painter Emma Sergeant, around town. He still has those patrician looks but these days Imran would rather stay up all night talking politics than nightclubbing.

Last week I watched him give a talk to students in London. Mostly bright, politicised young Pakistani-Muslims, they treated him like a rock star. His sense of urgency was palpable, as is his fear that Pakistan might implode at any minute.

Already, it is routinely described as a “failed state”. From day one he opposed the War on Terror and “the American puppet politicians in Pakistan”. The decision to send the army into the tribal areas of the North West Frontier, to flush out al Qaeda terrorists, simply fuelled extremism. “It’s civil war in the making,” he says shaking his head. “They were like a bull in a china shop, fighting one or two guerrillas with aerial bombing of villages. That turned people against the army and a new phenomenon was created: the Pakistan Taliban.” It’s made him believe even more passionately in socio-economic justice. “You will have no problem with extremists in Pakistan if you have democracy with a welfare state,” he tells the audience.

By the end of the evening he looked shattered. Half his life is spent in transit and his close friend tells me he is wearing jeans instead of the usual suit because he forgot to pack a belt. When I meet him two days later at Ormeley Lodge, near Richmond Park, he is still fielding calls about a wave of bombings in Pakistan, and trying to have high tea with his sons. The Georgian childhood home of his former wife is where Imran stays whenever he is in London, as a guest of her mother, Lady Annabel Goldsmith. The wing where we meet is modest: with a pool table and well-worn sofas.

He speaks cordially — if carefully —about his ex-wife. “It’s a very tricky thing, divorce, and toughest on the children. But as divorces go, ours has been the most amicable. The anger and bitterness comes when there is infidelity. But there was no infidelity,” he says firmly. “I realised her unhappiness in Pakistan and she, after trying her best, found she just couldn’t live there. So that’s why it ended, it was just a geographical problem, and we couldn’t sustain a marriage like that. If you care for someone you don’t want to see them unhappy. My connection with the Goldsmith household is just as it’s always been. They [Jemima's siblings, Zac and Ben] are like my younger brothers. And Annabel is as close to me.”

His marriage suffered because of his political zeal — he didn’t stand in the 2007 election, arguing that there could be no democracy while the judges were still controlled by the ruling party. But now politics is a mission for him, not a career. “If someone offered me a political career, I would shoot myself. Having to get votes through making compromises, no thank you. “The classic example in Englandis Tony Blair.

How did the people go wrong with him lying all the way? He sold the idea that there were weapons of mass destruction. If there had been conscientious politicians in your assembly who weren’t worried about their political careers, he would never have got away with it.” Many people think his involvement in politics is a way to keep alight the adulation he craved as a cricketer, but after leavingAitchison College in Lahore (the equivalent of Eton), he studied politics at Keble College, Oxford. Former cricketing colleagues — Imran played for Worcestershire and Sussex — recall an intense young man who hated pubs (as a Muslim he doesn’t drink) and public speaking. He returned to cricket once more at the World Cupin 1992, aged 39 when he captained Pakistan to victory.

But his spiritual awakening had come in his early thirties after witnessing his mother’s agonising death from cancer, without access to proper treatment and painkilling drugs. “She was in such agony that after she passed away I had to consciously discipline myself to shut out the memory of her pain.”

He consulted a mystic who “made me realise I had a responsibility to society because I was given so much. It created selflessness”. Imran approached Pakistan’s richest men — many had been schoolfriends — for help in raising £25 million to build a cancer hospital, but quickly learned that wealth and generosity don’t always go hand in hand. Instead, he took to an open jeep and toured 29 cities in six weeks, asking ordinary people for help. “In those six weeks I changed. I realised the generosity of tea boys, taxi drivers, the poorest people bringing 10 rupee notes — and also their faith. I collected £14 million in those six weeks.” Today the hospital treats 70 per cent of patients for free.

Although the dictatorial president, Pervez Musharraf, resigned in 2008, Imran has no faith in the current “democratic” government, now headed by Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of Benazir Bhutto. Imran talks passionately about how the rich in Pakistan travel by jet and have tax-evading bank accounts in Switzerland.

He may insist that support for his Movement for Justice party is growing, but the truth is he is still perceived as a maverick outsider. And his romantic past hasn’t helped. Conservative voters bring up the love child with Sita White (Imran has never publicly acknowledged Tyrian, now 17, as his daughter; but since her mother died in 2004, he has been involved in her upbringing). And of course there’s his marriage to Jemima, a half-Jewish, half Catholic heiress.

Despite converting to Islam and learning Urdu, Jemima — 20 years Imran’s junior and still at university when they met — was accused (falsely) of trying to smuggle antique tiles out of Pakistan. The final straw, says Imran, was in 2002 when she was accused of studying under “the blasphemer Salman Rushdie” because his book, The Satanic Verses, had appeared on her university reading list. Protesters torched posters of Jemima. “She was really shaken up by that and moved to England, so that was a big crisis for me.”

Two years later the marriage ended. Jemima has continued to impress as Unicef special representative — and a passionate advocate for democracy in Pakistan. “Frankly I never understood the media image of her as a socialite,” Imran tells me. “I never thought she would fit into that role because she’s very bright, she’s very political.”

But then Imran is a mass of contradictions himself. In the past, he has argued that the pressure on women to work has contributed to the breakdown of society in the West: “My mother was the biggest influence on my life, a proper mother.” Yet he believes that “a woman should be able to reach her full potential”, and he set up his university in a remote, conservative part of Pakistan precisely so local women could get an education for the first time in the region’s history. And he reminds me his three sisters are high-powered career women with children.

Pakistan is Imran’s passion and he feels little nostalgia for London — except as the place where his sons live: “Fatherhood has given me the greatest pleasure in my life. And hence it was very painful, the divorce, because that [being separated from them] was the main aspect. But I am basically a goal-orientated person, it’s never been about making money or a job. My passion is there so I only come to England to see my children.”

Imran has a core group of friends he has known for 40 years here. Setting up this interview, I came across a devoted group of Londoners — from lecturers to hairdressers — who give up time and money to support his party. “They know I do not have to do this, that it’s a big personal sacrifice,” he says.

He finds it desperately sad that he has to defend being a Muslim. “The most important thing to understand is what’s happening in Pakistan, and this war on terror is not a religious issue, it’s a political issue.” No religion allows terrorism, Imran insists, but “people pushed into desperate situations will do desperate acts”.

It doesn’t make him popular. He’s been dubbed a Taliban supporter by the same enemies who once called him a Zionist sympathiser. Critics say his politics are idealistic and unworkable in a country bailed out of chaos periodically by military regimes, but Imran insists democracy can be a street movement: “Yes there’s a fear, will Pakistan survive? But in a way it’s very encouraging because you can see the politicisation of the youth. That’s how it starts, in the campuses. Sixty-five per cent of Pakistanis are below the age of 25.”

This probably explains why four days ago, with the help of Jemima, Imran set up his own Twitter page. Back home, he says current affairs programmes get higher ratings than Big Brother.

“Our Paxmans are the most watched in Pakistan today.” Is he handing over the baton? He smiles wearily. “Basically I want the young to come in and upset the whole equation.”

Technorati Tags: himalayas, imran khan, islamabad, jemima khan, london, london evening standard, oxfordshire, sir james goldsmith, tehreek-e-insaaf

Quaid-e-Azam University

The research work carried out by a young Pakistani particle physicist Jamil Aslam and two of his team members — Ahmed Ali and Christian Hambrock — received acclamation from the physics community as its results may lead to the discovery of a “new form of matter”.

Jamil Aslam is a faculty member of Physics Department at Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU), while the other two physicists are working in Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron (DESY), the biggest German research centre for particle physics.

He and his team members analysed the data collected by the KEK particle collider in Japan during an experiment known as Belle and claimed the discovery of tetraquark particles that consist of four quarks instead of the usual two (quark-antiquark) and three quark ones. A quark is an elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter.

“Though it is not conclusive, however, the analysis made in paper supports the evidence of tetraquarks and if it is proved in Belle experiments, scheduled for later this year, it will introduce a new form of matter,” said a member of the team.
Both Dr. Jamil Aslam and Dr. Ahmed Ali are PhDs from the Physics Department of QAU and students of a prominent Pakistani theoretical physicist and eminent scientist Professor Dr. Riazuddin.

Commenting on the work of his ex-students, Riazuddin remarked that the work is highly significant in its ability to explain certain anomalies in the experiments that could not be explained within the framework of the standard quark theories.

“The tetraquark model if confirmed would imply the existence of exotic states of fundamental particles,” he said. The research work done by the group was published in Physical Review Letters, a well-reputed physics journal, and has been selected for special mention in notable journals of science including Institute of Physics (IoP), Physics Today and New Scientist.

QAU Vice Chancellor Dr. Masoom Yasinzai visited the physics laboratory and appreciated the efforts and work of young physicists. Addressing the faculty members, he underlined on the need for promotion of need-based research with a specific relevance to the local problems. He said university-industry linkage is vital for socio-economic uplift of the country.

Courtesy:

http://thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=246438

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tahreer_qau/3768351590/

Technorati Tags: Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron (DESY), Dr. Ahmed Ali, Dr. Riazuddin, Jamil Aslam, particle physics, Physical Review Letters, Physics Department at Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU), QAU Vice Chancellor Dr. Masoom Yasinzai

PIMS

I read about Haji Malik Mushtaq in todays “The news” and am impressed. We all live for ourselves but people who live to make life easier for others are great. This is the time when we all have to pay zakat and sadaqat, if you live in Islamabad go to PIMS and check for yourself. Then maybe instead of giving your money to professional beggers on the street you can give it to Mushtaq’s noble cause (its our noble cause too!)

Mushtaq’s noble cause needs help
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Noor Aftab

Islamabad

Hundreds of financially weaker people, attending their ailing relatives, daily gather at the lawn of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) after sunset where they are served with free food.

The act that may provide some kind of relief to them while going through difficult times at this medical facility.

Haji Malik Mushtaq, aged 58, tries his best to arrange food at least one time a day for these people, who are otherwise not able to meet growing food expenditures in the face of price-hike.

While talking to ‘The News’ Mushtaq said he did not think about it ever in his life but a road accident in 1982 that claimed lives of his son and daughter changed his whole life and he then thought to do something for common people.

“When I established my own welfare organisation afterwards I had no idea that some day I would turn much of my attention towards providing free food to needy persons. The rising hunger among downtrodden segments of the society forced me to do everything that I could within my financial resources,” said Malik Mushtaq who hails from a small village in Haripur and currently lives in Golra area.

Giving details about free food service he said only ‘daal’ and ‘roti’ is served to the people that is prepared by cooks in Sector G-11 under the supervision of a group of volunteers. He said some five to six hundred people daily turn up and they enjoy the meal, whatsoever it is, at properly placed mats and ‘dastarkhwans’, where they are also served with neatly washed crockery.

Free food is being served to deserving people on many places in twin cities other than Edhi Centres including Sector G-8/1, Peshawar Mor and Sector F-8 and the trend is gaining ground among philanthropists for serving their fellow beings, who are in dire need of helping hands.

Malik Mushtaq, who is a contractor working in the private sector, said he initially decided to spend 10% of his total income for the welfare of the people but now he is spending much more than it because it gives him pleasure and a lot of happiness.

The group of volunteers working under him provided 87 bottles of blood free of cost to patients who were under treatment in PIMS and now they have compiled a list of blood donors who are willing to donate blood in case of emergency.

“Some of my friends now also contribute with cash and material and it costs us around Rs0.4 million per month, but we are happy that we are able to do so without any help from any other organisation,” he said.

The idea of providing free food to needy people has led to establishment of Food Banks in many countries but it is yet to get attention in Pakistan where no serious effort both in public or private sector has so far been made to promote this trend.

He said, “We will also provide ‘sehri’ to the people during the holy month of Ramazan and will also try to improve menu for which we are mobilising our financial resources.”

He also has a plan to set up a ‘senior citizens home’ in Islamabad and after completion of its feasibility report the construction work would hopefully be started after Eidul Fitr but for this purpose he needs support both in financial and technical terms from other segments of the society. Haji Malik Mushtaq can be contacted on mobile phone number 0300-5178515.

Technorati Tags: feed poor, haji malik mushtaq, help poor, PIMS, welfare organisation

Edhi

We a nation of 160 million have only one Abdul Sattar Edhi. Why? Is it his duty alone to work for the society? or we think what he achieved is immpossible for others? I am yet to come across a a child who if asked “what do you what to be when you grow up? ” Answers “Abdul Sattar Edhi”.

Isn’t he an international celebrity? Isn’t he known and respected all over the world? Then why does our future generation wants to be a crickter, a footballer, a muscian, an actor or Bill Gates? I do not think there is anything wrong in being any of the above but why not someone like Edhi?

I wish we had a few more of him!!!

Edhi Foundation:
Edhi established his first welfare centre and then the Bilqis Edhi Trust with a mere Rs. 5000. What started as a one-man show operating from a single room in Karachi is now the Edhi Foundation, the largest welfare organization in Pakistan. The foundation has over 300 centers across the country, in big cities, small towns and remote rural areas, providing medical aid, family planning and emergency assistance. They own air ambulances, providing quick access to far-flung areas.

In Karachi alone, the Edhi Foundation runs 8 hospitals providing free medical care, eye hospitals, diabetic centers, surgical units, a 4- bed cancer hospital and mobile dispensaries. In addition to these the Foundation also manages two blood banks in Karachi.

20,000 abandoned babies have been saved
40,000 qualified nurses have been trained
50,000 orphans are housed in Edhi Homes
1 million babies have been delivered in Edhi Maternity Centers

Edhi’s Profile:
Born in 1928 in Bantwa , Gujarat, India , Edhi’s family belonged to the industrious Memon community. From a young age his mother taught Edhi to be kind towards others and to help the poor. In 1947 the family migrated to Pakistan and settled in Karachi. That was a time of great emotional trauma and social and political upheaval. Edhi became involved in social work and began working with welfare organisations and soon started his own dispensary, providing medical aid to the poor. He bought his first ambulance, an old van which he called the “poor man’s van” and went around the city providing medical help and burying unclaimed bodies. His van became his advertisement and soon he came to be known for his work with the poor. As a consequence, donations started pouring in and his operations expanded, employing additional nurses and staff. It was here that Edhi met his wife Bilquees who was a trainee nurse at the dispensary. They were married in 1966. Bilquees became the ideal wife for Edhi, totally committed to welfare work. Read more.

Despite his enormous fame and the vast sums of money that passes through his hands, Edhi adheres to a very modest lifestyle. He and his family live in a two room apartment adjacent to the premises of Foundation’s headquarter. Neither Edhi nor Bilquis receives any salary, The live on the income from government securities that Edhi bought many years ago to take care of their personal needs for the rest of their lives, thereby freeing them to devote single mindedly to their missionary work.

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Prof. Dr. Aurangzeb Hafi is the first South Asian, whose name has been inscribed in the Roll of Honor in The Sovereign Royal Order of The Knights of Peace and Justice, and has been honored and knighted in the category of ‘de jure’.[3] His contribution in Tsunami relief work….Read.

In 2004 Dr Aurangzeb hafi was contesting or the prestigious international title “Man of the Year 2003 in Interdisciplinary Sciences” has rejected the “unofficial” offer that he accept British citizenship to be a winner. He also turned down the offer of two million pounds sterling (or Rs210 million) for providing the original manuscript of his magnetosectorial model, on the basis of which he has joined the race, saying the invention was a trust of his country which he would not like to barter for personal gains. Read More.

Dr Aurangzeb Hafi is one of the six scientists shortlisted out of 1,376 from 900 universities in 60 countries by the International Scientific Council, headquartered in Britain. The shortlisted contestants in addition to Prof Dr Hafi are; Prof Dr J.A. Walker, Dr I.J. Richards (UK), Prof Dr Okada (Japan), Dr J.F. Larson (Denmark) and Dr S. Nevelli (India).

And he went on to win the contest. Principal Assessor Dr Walter Bodmer said in a statement. “Scientific Honours Scrutiny Committee has reached the conclusion that after a careful assessment and review with the best possible competency and intellectual honesty it was found that, out of the major unusual works in interdisciplinary sciences, Aurangzeb Hafi’s Magnetic Sectoral Model was found to be of the widest multidisciplinary research and development implementation capacity and having multifaceted impact on interdisciplinary scientific research”.

These comments may shud some light on Dr Aurangzeb Hafi’s work and personality :

“Through his research papers, Prof. Hafi has made immense contributions to both, Humanitarianism and Scientific Research. His distinguished career, academic excellence and outstanding achievements are well documented. They have been recognized by a plethora of learned societies within our discipline.”
(Carlos A. Perez. Ph.D.,
Director: International Advisory Committee for the Advancement of Scientific Research————–Washington)

“Prof. Dr. Aurangzeb Hafi is a man of impeccable intellectual and philosophical integrity who commands universal admiration and respect.”
Prof. Dr. Henri Maisin L.L.D., D.Litt.————–Belgium)

“Prof. Hafi’s contributions to Biomagnetics have proved to be the foundations on which scores of other scientists would build their innovations.”
(Castilla EE Ph.D., D.Sc.———–United Kingdom)

“Prof. Hafi’s work is the magnum opus of Biomagnetism.”
(Dr. Walter Grey——–Ph.D. D.Sc.)

“Dr. Hafi is to be acknowledged as a pioneer in Magnetohydrodynamics. His contributions for the advancement of Biomagnetism speak for themselves. Little wonder that we would regard Pakistan as the center of excellence in Biomagnetics Congratulations for being so far sighted for the advancement of Biomagnetism.”
(M.F. Barnothy ——–Chief: Biomagnetic Research Center. Director: World Biomagnetics Association, University of Illinois————-New York)

“Most senior scholars I have met usually specialize in one particular area. Sir Aurangzeb Hafi, however, has developed expertise in almost every area.”
(H.M Khurshid———-Ph.D., Ex. Senior Research Methodologist: The United Nations University)

“I have no word to admire Prof. Hafi’s great contributions for Humanitarianism and Scientific Research, whenever and wherever he has done generously so far. Only one word I’d like to express, is that, I am proud of having his research papers in my library.”
(B.S.Lipman———-Ph.D., D.Litt.————–Chicago, USA)

“Sir Aurangzeb Hafi is really a great person whom I deeply admire. I salute him as an outstanding example of Humanitarianism. His achievements are unequaled.”
(Sheldon C. Sommers——- Ph.D., D.Litt.
Member International Council for Research Analysis,
Ex. Research Analyst: Oxford University London, Toronto University Canada)

“Prof. Hafi is the most dedicated researcher, one who would hammer at a point and make you accept it.”
(Richard F. Bakemeier ——- Ph.D., D. Psych———-USA)

“I admire Prof. Aurangzeb Hafi for his broad vision, realistic approach and vast knowledge in Research Methodology.”
(Fraumeni J.F.—-Associate Professor of Psychology
United Nations University)

“Sir Hafi would be remembered as an original thinker and a great Research Methodologist.”
(E.M. Scolnick————–Ph.D.,
President: Oxford Steering Committee on Research Methodology)

“Prof. A.Z. Hafi is undoubtedly an outstanding Research Methodologist. His wide expertise in Research Methodology, Biomagnetism, Magneto-hydro-dynamics, Alternative Medicines, Orthomecular Medicine and Magneto-chemistry is without parallel and as I foresee, would remain so, in the next century.”
(Prof. Robert Becher—–D.Sc.,
Chairman: Section of Research Analysis, Int’l Advisory
Committee for the Advancement of Scientific Research)

“Through his work, Prof. Hafi has raised the standards of research. I admire his originality of thought.”
(Dr. Johnston S.J.——– D.Litt.
Senior External Assessor: Cambridge University—————United Kingdom)

“Among those men and women who have been estimated as leaders in Research Methodology. Sir Hafi’s name is ranking high. He stays not for excellence in research but for the highest merits as a Modest Servant of Mankind.”
(Dr. Knight G.E. Beawmont———–Ph.D., D.Litt.,
Executive Member: Board of Directors United Nation University)

“Dr. Hafi is unquestionably the leading Research Methodologist today.”
(Pior Elna T. Phelan——–Ph.D., DRC., FFO.————-Georgia)

“Prof. Hafi is an authority in his lines of expertise. The impact he has had through his involvement with a variety of subjects is quite exemplary.”
(Prof. Dr. V McGufee Ph.D., D.Sc.—————-Switzerland)

“Sir Hafi has made a tremendous contribution to Research Methodology. During the study of his research papers I had an opportunity to get a clearer glimpse of a man behind the reputation.”
(Prof. Dr. Robert J Goldberg-Ph.D.——–Maryland)

It is a supreme pleasure, a singular honour and a rare privilege for me to write some words about Prof. Dr. Sir. Aurangzeb Hafi Naqashbandi. Prof. Hafi has an exceptional personality with extremely unusual combinations, as many of his teachers, students, patients and friends can testify. Totally dedicated to promote his chosen subjects (i.e. Humanitarianism, Research Methodology, Bromagnetics, Magnetohydrodynamics and Alternative Medicines), Dr. Hafi has led his name to the heights of achievements and won “International Accolade” for the scholars of Pakistan.

Pakistan is proud to have such an eminent scholar and thinker who has contributed enormously to Pakistan through his work which is recognized worldwide. His monumental achievements are unparalleled.

As Loa-Tzu said:
A leader among men holds fast three precious things:
i) Gentleness but Bold
ii) Frugality yet Liberal
iii) Humility as Selfless

These are what made Sir Aurangzeb Hafi special as high profile academician in Research Methodology.Dr. Hafi has always been directed towards the pursuit of excellence, but he has worked, usually, not in air-conditioned and well-equipped labs.

His meticulously composed contributions in the field of sciences, his polished and refined reflections on Research Methodology and his sartorial elegance are indelible impressions I carry of a most distinguished man of aour times.

Sir Hafi has an observant eye with analytical mind, indomitable will with unwavering belief and uncontrollable courage with a hope, which he has dexterously used to immaculately attire and his zealous pursuit of excellence in research is unequaled.

Beyond many qualities A.Z. Hafi Naqashbandi is a fighter for justice, honesty and morality. He is a real friend for poor and neglected people. It was his noble mind that brought him on the international top of Research.

Prof. Hafi is neither just a research methodologist, nor a scientist, but a MAN, for recapitulating Rudyard Kipling, he can talk with crowds and keep his virtue or walk with Kings not losing the common touch.

I could not, but be impressed by his excellent ethical standards and diverse commitments.

I hope that as a gifted motivator and superb organizer, he would play a leading role in fostering and strengthening ties and collaborations among scientific and sociomoral scholar nationally and internationally. I believe that he would hold back the tidal waves of dishonesty with the dukes of truth, motality and courage. He is the brilliant scientist at the forefront of Scientific Research & Humanitarianism.

I do hope that more and more people would join him to work for the betterment of mankind.
(H.M Khurshid———-Ph.D., Ex. Senior Research Methodologist: The United Nations University)

He is known to most people as Sir Aurangzeb Hafi Naqashbandi, the great Scientist and Research Methodologist. But few have known him as an individual as a human being. Very few indeed are aware that he is also a highly spiritual being, immersed deeply in Humanitarianism. In keeping with this spiritual side of Sir Auraugzeb Hafi, this man of Science has also a highly sensitive and compassionable heart, whose care of and concern for poor and neglected people are worthy for emulation it is not difficult to see why he is held in such high esteem. He is model to emulate.
(Jalil Khurshid———– M.Phil.,Ph.D.
Member: MAVSO Intl., Fellow:World Research Organization.)

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