~ POSITIVE PAKISTANIS and HEROs ~

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
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**Pakistan sets six world records
**

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LAHORE: Pakistan may not have brought home any medals from this summer’s Olympics, but it can now lay claim to world records in chapati-making, plug-wiring and chessboard-arranging.

A weekend of bizarre record attempts in the eastern city of Lahore began on Saturday night when 42,813 people in the national hockey stadium sang the national anthem together, smashing the previous best of 15,243 held by India.

The Guinness World Records (GWR) has declared Pakistan the holder of the world record for the most people singing a national anthem simultaneously yet again.

Pakistan is also eyeing to set another world record by making the biggest human flag of Pakistan at the same venue in Lahore, the National Hockey Stadium, Geo TV reported.

On Sunday, Mohammed Mansha went flat out to set a new record for making chapati breads — mixing, kneading, spinning and cooking three in three minutes and 14 seconds — while 12-year-old Mehek Gul took just 45 seconds to arrange the pieces on a chessboard using only one hand.

Neither of these feats had been attempted before under the watchful eye of a Guinness World Records official.

But Ahmed Amin Bodla broke a more established record when he landed 616 martial arts kicks on a punchbag in just three minutes, beating the previous best of 612 also set by a Pakistani.

The events were held as part of a week-long youth festival in the eastern city of Lahore, where Guinness adjudicator Gareth Deaves ensured fair play, manager Sher Ali said.

While some people might prefer care over haste when it comes to electrics, Mohammed Nauman lit up the crowd as he wired a household plug in a dazzling 35 seconds.

In a land with a proud tradition of facial hair, Saddi Mohammed set a record by using his moustache to pull a 1.7 tonne pickup truck a distance of 60.3 metres, to wild applause from the crowd.

Elsewhere, Daniel Gill and Mohammed Rizwan set a new record for heading a football between them, managing 335 consecutive headers in three minutes 45 seconds.

But there was heartache for one contender, whose bid to claim the record for most T-shirts donned in three minutes was disallowed when officials ruled he had failed to smooth down all of the 59 shirts properly.

Late on Saturday night, patriotic emotions ran through the sky when thousands of participants of Punjab Youth Festival joined voices to break the world record for the most people singing a national anthem simultaneously in Lahore.

A GWR representative made official announcement in this regard saying according to their tally 42,813 Pakistani people sang the national anthem together to reclaim the world record.

“Aap nay world record tord diya hay (You have broken the world record),” the GWR representative said in Urdu.

A few hours earlier the ambitious organisers claimed that Pakistan has made it to the Guinness World Records as around 70,000 people have sung the national anthem together.

According to a statement issued by Sports Board of Punjab a day earlier at least 24,000 students, athletes as well as 60,000 audience/volunteers were expected to set the world record in the opening ceremony of Punjab Youth Festival 2012 main round.

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, who was the chief guest, encouraged the participants and organisers for such a grand effort. It was Pakistan’s event not just Punjab’s, he said.

Pakistan’s famous singers entertained the audience of the show, hosted by none other than Geo TV’s live wire Sahir Lodhi.

According to Guinness World Records website, the current record is held by India where 15,243 people sang the national anthem simultaneously. The event was organised by Lokmat Media Ltd (India) at the Divisional Sports Ground, in Aurangabad, India, on Jan.25, 2012.

Pakistan had held this record until it was broken by India. A total of 5,885 people had sung the national anthem simultaneously to set a new world record on Aug.14, 2011, Pakistan’s 65th Independence Day. Then, Pakistan had beaten the previous record of 5,248 set by the Philippines on Sept.1, 2009.

Punjab Youth Festival is a good idea to engage the youth of the province in healthy activities. All of these records maybe a bit “bizarre”, but they are still welcome by an entertainment/sport-deprived country.

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Pakistani team of students sweeps India Today debate competition and makes friends in India.

| Video | Team from Pakistan wins debate competition at Vasant Valley School | India Videos | - India Today](Team from Pakistan wins debate competition at Vasant Valley School - India Today)

Pakistan sweeps India Today debate competition: Report – The Express Tribune

Team from Pakistan wins debate competition at Vasant Valley School on MSN Video

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**U.S. Media Elite Honor Female Pakistani Journalist for Her Courage

Zubeida Mustafa was the first woman to work in Pakistan’s mainstream media. That was more than 30 years ago. Today, because of Zubeida’s courage to use her voice, report on other women’s voices, and argue for hiring policies that would allow women to occupy all positions in the newsroom, life is different for women in Pakistan.**

“I wanted to create space for women and I thought if there were more, it would give them strength,” says Zubeida.

Over her three-decade career, Zubeida worked through extreme political instability, media censorship, gender barriers and social upheaval as the assistant editor of Dawn, a widely-respected English-language daily newspaper in Pakistan.
In addition to becoming the first woman in Dawn’s newsroom, Zubeida became the first woman on the editorial board, where she fought to gain coverage in the paper for the burgeoning women’s movement. She advocated running stories with women’s voices in all sections instead of relegating them to a “women’s page.”

As Zubeida’s career evolved, the central theme of her work became the inequalities she witnessed in Pakistani society. She wrote on health, education and women’s empowerment. She was able to cover stories that men were not able to because they did not have the same access to women as Zubeida.

When she wrote an article on breast cancer, a group of religious conservatives raided Dawn and accused the paper of printing “obscene” content. Undeterred, Zubeida went on to write about contraception and reproductive health. She also covered the case of rape victim turned women’s advocate when other writers were afraid to mention it.

A mother of two daughters, Zubeida not only broke the the social barrier against women working, but of mothers working.
Tabby Biddle: U.S. Media Elite Honor Female Pakistani Journalist for Her Courage

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It is nice to see several countries being represented in the Punjab International Youth Sports Festival.

So far, I have heard of India, Sri Lanka, Iran, New Zealand and Serbia.

Does anybody have more information about this event ?

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A very positive and always struggling person , Worked for democracy and spreading knowledge . Well known for his his social links and love to literature and arts .

Iqbal Haider
Ex Minister in BB times
A real gentleman and learned one passed away today 11th November 2012.

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**Pakistan win 5 golds Int’l Sports Festival

******LAHORE – Pakistan with five gold medals in different events is at the top of the leader board of the Punjab International Youth Festival 2012 here on Sunday.
**
**The teams of both the Indian and Pakistani Punjab were going neck and neck in the remaining events with India winning the hockey series and the home team taking the tug of war title.

The Pakistan having won three gold medals in ju-jitsu and one each in women fistball and men baseball is holding the fort at the top, followed by Iran with two gold medals in ju-jitsu.

The day started with a 2-1 win for Serbia beat Punjab Greens 2-1 in soccer. Serbia won all of its pool matches to qualify for the final. Punjab Greens was leading the match by one goal scored by Arif while Serbia came back strongly first they levelled the score through Masik and later Haurtan Janik scored the most important goal of the match.
In ju-jitsu, Pakistan players took three gold medals while Iran was second while Mauritius got one silver and a bronze. And Iraq, South Korea and Kyrgyzstan got one bronze each.
Sri Lanka beat Afghanistan 16-1. Nauveen of Sri Lanka managed three while Arish, Chameer, Naurishan, Sameer and Krishan added two scores each. Arsalan was the lone scorer from Afghanistan. Afghanistan beat Nepal 2-1 in touch ball event while Pakistan got walk over against Somalia.
India beat Pakistan 3-1 in the last match to win Dosti Hockey Cup here at the Johar Hockey Stadium. Pakistan Punjab beat the Indian Punjab in tug of war by scoring 2-0 win.

Chief Organiser of the Youth Festival and Deputy Speaker was the chief guest of the day while DG Sports and Youth Affairs Punjab was also present on the occasion.

Pakistan win 5 golds Int

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Renowned columnists, Ardeshir Cowasjee, passed away
Veteran Pakistani columnist Cowasjee passes away at 86 | DAWN.COM

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“I am 86 now, too old to pen weekly columns. Besides what’s there to write about with the same old politics and same old politicians.
نامور کالم نگار اردشیر کاؤس جی طویل علالت کے بعد ہفتہ کو 86 سال کی عمر میں کراچی میں انتقال کر گئے۔ پارسی گھرانے سے تعلق رکھنے والے اردشیر کاؤس جی 13 اپریل 1926 میں کراچی میں پیدا ہوئے، انہوں نے 1988 سے 2011 تک مستقل ڈان اخبار کیلیے ہفتہ وار کالم لکھنے کے فرائض انجام دیے، آپ کا شمار پاکستان کے انتہائی مستند اور بے باک کالم نگاروں میں کیا جاتا تھا۔

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Pakistani IT companies win four silver awards

**KARACHI: **Pakistani IT companies have bagged four silver awards at the Asia Pacific ICT Awards 2012 in Brunei Darussalam, held on December 5, announced Pakistan Software Houses Association for IT & ITeS (P@SHA) on Thursday.
The Centre for Advanced Research in Engineering (CARE) secured the silver award in the communications category while gKrypt – a product of Tunacode Private Limited – got the award in the security category.

Pi-Labs Inc’s product, Candy Pot and Feed Garfield Gaming Engine, also bagged the silver award in new media and entertainment and NUST and Centre for Advance Research in Engineering – in a joint submission on “Early Detection of Diabetic Retinopathy without Invasive Die Injection” – got the award in the research and development category.

Pi-Labs is a startup based out of Karachi. They develop apps for iOS, Android and Windows Phone8. Their app Candy Pot has consistently remained among the top five apps in five app stores worldwide

Tunacode is also a startup that came out of National University of Science and Technology (NUST), Islam*abad. They develop security software. A bunch of their applications are being used by American companies and are highly rated in encryption technology.

P@SHA’s delegation was smaller than previous years as only six technology products competed for the awards, the statement said.

APICTA judges from 16 economies evaluated the categories in which Pakistan participated. The judges, according to P@SHA, praised the consistently high standard of technology products Pakistan has presented year after year.

This year, the Pakistani team benchmarked its products against 153 products from the region. Over the years, the event has become a platform for the best technology companies of the region to meet and form potential partnerships with each other.

Full Report

Great stuff :clap:

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**Pakistan bag silver in U21 Asian Challenge Trophy

**LAHORE: **India won gold medal while Yemen clinched bronze whereas Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Nepal earned fourth, fifth and sixth places.

**In the semi-final of the event, Pakistan defeated Yemen 33-27 but lost the final to India 40-20 as the absence of two key players due to injury during the semi-final hindered Pakistan’s performance in the decider.

India and Pakistan have also qualified for Asian men’s IHF Challenge Trophy being held in 2013.
In their group fixtures, Pakistan overcame Afghanistan 33-27 and downed Nepal 36-26 to qualify for the semi-finals.

Meanwhile, Pakistan women’s team secured fifth place after winning the match against Afghanistan 31-13.

The Pakistan women lost matches to India and Bangladesh.
Pakistan bag silver in U21 Asian Challenge Trophy | Sport | DAWN.COM

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**Pakistan-born entrepreneur wins award

******ISLAMABAD: An increasing number of Pakistani expatriates are achieving great success in the Information Technology (IT) industry, both with their business acumen and technical expertise. Safi U Qureshey a noted founder of AST Computer hailed from Karachi while Lahore-born Silicon Valley maverick Atiq Raza former president of AMD has many successes under his belt. Similarly, ePlanet Ventures Asad Jarnal who was placed on Forbes’ Midas List which tracks the world’s most successful VCs also born in Pakistan. UBM Group one of the world’s largest technology media companies announced the results of its ‘Tech Innovator 2012’ awards at the Xchang e- conference in Las Vegas.

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

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**old article, but worth sharing it.

Proudly made in Sialkot!

Throughout the history of football world cups and other major FIFA events, the world has seen one brand deliver the most astounding soccer balls, carved to perfection and tested in adverse conditions to exceed all FIFA standards for an ‘Official Match Ball’.
**
Yes, we’re talking about the German brand, Adidas.

But what lies behind the Adidas logo on these soccer gems is the sweat and blood of hard-working rural women, belonging to the city of Sialkot, Pakistan – an effort concealed in disguise, under a dangerous quilt of consumerism.
Till the advent of the year 2000, Pakistan was making 75% of all the soccer balls consumed by this entire planet*,* making it by far, the greatest supplier of footballs in the world, marks a reportby the US government. Though the market share has dropped considerably in the past decade and Pakistan’s supply share into the world market has dropped down to around 40%, its unmatched hand-stitching quality in the world keeps winning Pakistani balls a place in all major FIFA tournaments, despite the presence of heavy competitors such as China, India and Thailand.

So China may be producing more soccer balls annually through machines, it all comes down to quality over quantity, when Pakistani hand-stitched balls and Chinese machine-made balls come head to head for the big FIFA selection process.

It was in the FIFA World Cup 2010 that the Pakistani soccer ball didn’t win a place in the grand tournament for the first time in a long time, and instead, the machine-made Chinese ball, Jabulani was selected over the hand-made Pakistani predecessor, Teamgeist.

But as the tournament progressed, the Chinese Jabulani came under heavy criticism for its inaccuracy and difficulty to control and dribble, with hate pouring in from almost all the greatest boots in the game. All this forced Adidas to return to its most acclaimed soccer ball variation line ever – The Tango, bearing the ‘Made in Pakistan’ tag.

So it’s been made public, the Adidas Albert is the official game ball for London 2012 Olympics, coming hand-stitched straight from the soccer-production capital of the world, Sialkot.
Tom Cleverley, the Manchester United player who unveiled the ball at City of Coventry Stadium speaksabout Albert,
”The Albert certainly has a unique name and striking identity. It is like no other ball I’ve seen before and it is going to really stand out on the pitch. The ball looks youthful and that is what London 2012 is meant to be about.”
The Adidas Albert sports a sequence of triangular panels, thermally bonded together for a highly reliable trajectory in flight. A woven carcass and a novel bladder beneath the outer surface of the ball, give Albert increased air retention and minimal water uptake. To enhance the ball control, each panel is covered with a grip texture, supporting boot to ball contact. The extra striking colours on the ball are in line with the London 2012 Olympics colour palette.

The Albert is also available for public purchase as part of the merchandise on the official London 2012 Olympics online store, for a sum of £70, where clicking on the ‘Details’ tab unveils the ‘country of manufacture’ being Pakistan.

Good job Pakistan!

Olympic footballs: Proudly made in Sialkot – The Express Tribune Blog

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Beating all odds: Visually impaired professor refuses to lose sight of life

**RAWALPINDI: **Amir Hanif Raja lost his eyesight as a child but never his ambition.
Despite being visually impaired for almost four decades, the college professor has been successful throughout his academic years and was awarded a PhD in comparative studies between the European Union (EU) and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) by the University of Punjab on December 29, 2012, becoming the first PhD scholar in any organisational level studies.

The 39-year-old from Kirpa village, a rural area of Islamabad, was born with sight, but soon after he turned nine months old, his mother began noticing something was wrong. By the age of one, Raja became blind after contracting an incurable disease called retinitis pigmentosa.

But he refused to let anything tie him down.
“Disability does not matter if a person is keen to achieve something in life,” says Raja who is now happily married and father of four.
His academic journey started in 1973 at the Government Kandeel Secondary School, Kohati Bazaar, Rawalpindi, where facilities for blind students were scarce. Mostly, he had to appear in exams, relying on information he had heard from friends. Yet, Raja succeeded in securing first division in his secondary school exam. This encouraged him to pursue higher studies.

He went on to graduate from the Government Degree College Satellite Town, Rawalpindi.

Besides his A grades, Raja remained equally bright in extracurricular activities, winning several awards in declamation contests and poetry competitions.
“The most memorable moment of my life was when my college announced a holiday in 1992 to honour me for winning a gold medal in the Punjab Poetry Competition. Never before in the college’s history was a holiday to honour a student,” he recalls. Raja went on to complete his Masters in History from the Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad in 2006, followed by an MPhil and PhD in 2008 and 2012 respectively from the University of Punjab on a Higher Education Commission scholarship.
He was also recognised outside Pakistan, receiving the honour of “best researcher” at the University of Sheffield, United Kingdom, in 2009, during a six-month scholarship in research.
“In the UK, there were a lot of facilities for the blind. I did my research in a research centre which was especially built for the visually impaired,” he said.
In 2011, his final thesis was sent to Turkey and the USA for evaluation and with the approval of his thesis, after which he was awarded the PhD degree. “Another happy moment of my life was when I received a job offer from the EU,” the professor said.

However, it was not all smooth sailing for the enthusiastic professor. “When I started off my studies, I had to face a lot of criticism but I continued. I have reached the conclusion that in our society if a person proves himself, people start giving him importance and respect,” he said, adding that the “same happened to me; at least now I am getting respect from others.”

He also recalled how he had to struggle in school, and was unable to get a first division in his secondary school exam because of another student who had to write his paper for him.

Raja started working at the Asghar Mall College as a lecturer some 12 years back after passing the Punjab Service Commission Exam and was later promoted to the post of assistant professor.

In the future, he wants to serve the OIC – the pan-Islamic body which, he hopes, will regain its credibility. He believes the OIC has excellent policies and structure but its workforce is not willing to work. “Every Islamic state has its own agenda and that is a big hurdle in the implementation of a common agenda.”

A determined Raja also plans to do his post-doctorate. He, however, complains that he does not receive the encouragement he deserves from the media or the government.

Beating all odds: Visually impaired professor refuses to lose sight of life – The Express Tribune

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:jhanda:

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Malaysia to set up center to honour Dr Atta-ur-Rehman

KARACHI: A top Malaysian university will set up a research institute to honour prominent Pakistani scientist Dr. Atta-ur-Rehman.

The “Atta-ur-Rahman Institute of Natural Product Discovery (RiND)” will be inaugurated at the University of Teknologi Mara (UiTM) on March 4, 2013, during an International Conference on Natural Products, where Rehman is being invited as a guest of honour to deliver the keynote speech for the “Jack Cannon Lecture”.

More

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Not so positive, the first computer virus created by Pakistanis…

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Actually, tt was the Creeper virus followed by Elk Cloner, they came before…

I do however remember back in 1987 when I was 6 and got my first XT Machine (8086) being infected by the C Brain Virus along with the stone virus (your computer has been stoned!) as they used to reside on the Boot sector. I used to get stuff from Brain Computers, Lahore alot, they (Basit and his brother) used to charge Rs. 5 to copy a clone a program on a floppy back then..

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Brain virus was the first virus to attack DOS.

Brain company has since grown to a small LDI (telecom) operator.