"Here's the other side of Newsweek's Muslim Rage photo. Something the mainstream media wouldn't be too keen to show you in highlighted characters and red strips. Today, tens of hundreds of people showed up from 8 year olds to 60+ senior citizens in different cities of Pakistan to clean up the mess created by the few individuals who somehow always end up defining Pakistan. Here's to all of today's participants, you're the reason why we have a good future. Pakistan is proud of you.
KARACHI: Prof. Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman, a former Minster for Science and Technology, has been elected by of Bilim Akademisi, the Science Academy, Turkey (TUBA), as a Foreign Honorary Member of TUBA.
A Karachi University statement said here on Sunday that in an official letter, issued to Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman by TUBA Chairman M. Ali Alpar, it is mentioned that the Science Academy was set up on November 25, 2011 as a non-governmental organization to uphold principles of scientific merit, freedom and integrity.
It said that Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman has been selected in recognition of his services to science and higher education sector in and outside the country. Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman has 843 publications in organic chemistry including 663 research publications, 18 patents, 103 books and 59 chapters in books.
He was elected as Fellow of Royal Society (London) (2006). He won the prestigious UNESCO Science Prize (1999). He has been conferred honorary doctorate degrees by Cambridge University (1987), Coventry University (2007), Bradford University (2010), Asian Institute of Technology (2010) and many other universities.
He was elected Honorary Life Fellow Currently, Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman is serving as the Coordinator General of COMSTECH. He is President of the Pakistan Academy of Sciences. Vice Chancellor Karachi University, Prof Dr Muhammad Qaiser, and Director International Centre for Chemical and Biological Sciences, KU, Prof Dr Muhammad Iqbal Choudhary congratulated him on his achievement.
LAHORE: The Madrid-based international organization Business Initiative Directions (BID) has awarded Punjab University Gujranwala Campus Director General Prof Dr Muhammad Ehsan Malik with International Arch of Europe Award in its International Quality Convention in Frankfurt, Germany in which outstanding personalities from the business world and diplomatic corps.
Prof Dr Ehsan Malik received IAE from BID President Jose E. Prieto. The BID has stated in a press release that Punjab University was made up of a team oriented towards the continuous improvement of processes, striving fro an important role in the leadership of the business world.
The BID is present in 178 countries around the world, creating a firm ground for the implementation of integral quality processes through the technology and procedures of the QC 100 model of total quality management. For selection of IAEA Award 2012, a voting process was carried out during the BID World Congress with meetings in Paris, London, Geneva, Frankfurt, Madrid and New York over the past twelve months.
The winning of IAEA award 2012 to leaders by leaders is yet another special recognition added in the list of awards achieved by University of the Punjab. PU Vice-Chancellor Prof. Dr. Mujahid Kamran has congratulated Dr. Ehsan Malik for achieving this milestone and the country was proud of him.
Safirullah Siddiqui ‘Lehri’ (January 2, 1929 - September 13, 2012) was one of Pakistan's greatest comedians who made his name in Urdu films.
Lehri won the Nigar Award for around a dozen films. He acted in approximatelt 225 films
The late Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto provided him with a monthly stipend of Rs. 2,500 during her first tenure, which he continues to receive, though there has been no increase in the amount.
On January 2, 2012, Nawaz Sharif and members of his party visited Lehri at his "rihaish gah" or residence, enjoyed his jokes, and wrote him a check for Rs. 25 lakh.
Lehri died on 13 September 2012 at 9 am in Karachi. He had been under treatment in a private Karachi hospital at the time of his death.from Pakistan.
Grieving over the demise of Lehri, Qavi Khan said there is no one like Lehri; he was an institution in his self, adding he was unique in his style, “I have never seen the likes of him anywhere.”
“Turn every stone in Pakistan and you find a diamond,” said Sabina Khatri – one of the six central characters of Ho Yaqeen, a project that aims to promote a positive image of Pakistan. She sent chills down my spine.
What Sabina said stayed with me; working for a news organisation has made me feel despondent and desolate. As news of torture, rape, kidnapping, sectarian violence and bomb blasts pours in, I am left wondering where the good news is.
Are any good things happening in Pakistan?
If they are, why don’t I know about them? Why doesn’t the world know about them?
How long will Pakistani news be synonymous with tragedy?
This is why people like Sabina and Sharmeen matter – they give us hope that good things are indeed happening in Pakistan.
At the event, a documentary was screened, based on the life of Sabina – a mother of two and a teacher by profession – who has changed the lives of 90 children in Lyari.
The audience could make comparisons between the documentary and the ongoing crisis in the violent neighbourhood. I overheard sighs, and murmurs of “see” and “sh*t”. They emphathise, I thought.
I saw people wiping tears, sniffling as they watched the screen with the beaming faces of Lyari’s children – hopeful children who dream of a “new Lyari”. In one scene, the children circling Sabina had their eyes shut, imagining a Lyari without the reverberating sound of gunfire, without echoes of horror.
As the documentary concluded, a roaring applause erupted in the auditorium. The audience didn’t stop until Sharmeen came to the stage. She explained that this series focuses on the “everyday heroes of Pakistan who can inspire so many people to do good but nobody knows them.”
In my university days, I was the first to dismiss these efforts, saying that they don’t bear any fruit at all. I used to say ‘things never change in Pakistan,’ but as a journalist who is constantly aware of ‘what is wrong with Pakistan’, I feel this negativity is the reason that there is a dire need for a buffer; something that can dilute the effect of the adrenaline rush after breaking news.
The university-going Sidrah spoke from inside me:
What change will this bring?
As though she read my thoughts, Sharmeen answered my question unknowingly:
It’s not easy to bring about change. Change doesn’t come overnight.
It doesn’t matter who sponsored the event or who attended it; what matters at the end is that despite the despair and helplessness, there are people who are working to make Pakistan better and hopeful. We need to be able switch-off so we can zoom out of the bitter reality and find some peace, and events like these make this possible.
A Pakistan-based scientist has been honoured by the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC), the body said in a statement released this week.
Dr Yusuf Zafar, who is the director general agriculture and biotechnology at the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission was declared ‘Scientist of the Year-2012’ for his pioneering work in the cotton biotechnology sector.
Zafar has over 110 scientific papers (published in national and international journals) to his name. According to ICAC, “in cotton virology his group covers nearly 90 per cent of the global published literature.”
The Faisalabad-based scientist played a key role in bringing together the world’s major cotton groups, including Australia, China, UK and USA, for the purpose of conducting joint research.
Heading the National Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering in Faisalabad, Zafar and his team have contributed helped produce nearly 100 M. Phil and 30 Ph. D Pakistan-based students, focussing on various aspects of research and development in cotton. He has, meanwhile, remained in the front line to establish Biosafety Protocols, Plant Breeder Rights, Intellectual Property Rights/Patents and ISO certification in Pakistan.
In 2001, the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission awarded him Best Scientist of the Year Award. The President of Pakistan awarded him ‘Tamgha-e-Imtiaz (Medal of Distinction) in 2004, the highest recognition for a researcher.
In other honours, Zafar has also won the Rockefeller Foundation and UNESCO Research Awards on Agri-Biotechnology, and is member of the USDA Cochran Fellow on Agriculture Biotechnology.
Apart from leading the Faisalabad institute, he is on the Board of Governors of the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology-ICGEB (Italy), FAO country focal person on agriculture biotechnology and member of the Cotton Policy Committee of the government.
The ‘Scientist of the year -2012’ award was announced by ICAC late Wednesday. ICAC is an intergovernmental body with 54 members and provides services to Common Funds for Commodity (CFC), an organisation of UNCTAD-UN family.
Applications for the award are invited each year by the Washington DC-based institute and the selection committee comprises five anonymous judges outside the ICAC Secretariat.
KARACHI: After being in the country for more than two weeks, German journalist Joachim Holtz is of the view that reality is far better than perception.
“This is my second week in Karachi and before coming, I thought I would not survive even a day,” said the senior journalist and foreign correspondent of the German channel, ZDF. He was speaking to the journalist community on ‘Pakistan’s image abroad- a German view’ at the Karachi Press Club on Thursday.
Back home, the journalist feels that Pakistan has no image at all. “Pakistan is simply the name of an Islamic country in South Asia. There is mostly fear and some respect amongst Germans for the country and mostly, they have a blurry image of strange people living in a far away land.”
While some Germans were aware that Pakistan has delicious mangoes and the people love cricket, Holtz said that there are many who believe that Pakistan is an extremist, nuclear-armed country. “But they know very little or nothing about the country itself.”
Changing perceptions
Citing Pakistani and German newspapers, Holtz said that he only found news about bombings, Raymond Davis, the assassinations of Salmaan Taseer and Shahbaz Bhatti, floods and their destruction. He said a few German papers have covered events such as the Karachi Literature Festival, while one newspaper wrote a feature on sufism in the country.
Contrary to what he had read, Holtz seemed to be thoroughly enjoying his trip. Apart from visiting the Empress Market in Karachi and the Faisal Mosque in Islamabad, he also took a dip in the ocean last week. He went to Murree, Lahore and several cities in Sindh, including Sukkur, Hyderabad and Thatta. “I have never met any unfriendly person while travelling. There is so much hospitality, even the poorest have welcomed me with a cup of tea. I love it here!” exclaimed a delighted Holtz.
