Incredible Pakistan

Following article by me was printed in the MORE magazine for the month of May,21011

While the inside and outside media stay busy in portraying Pakistan negatively to the whole world, they forget to illuminate the other side of the picture. The other side is comparatively positive and brighter, hence spreading the message of hope among the citizens of Pakistan. Though bombs, suicide attacks, corruption, unemployment and other evils cover most of the space in our news bulletins, there should also be a dedicated portion to enlighten the efforts of our talented youth. Our exuberant youth possess lots of talent, intellectual skills, and great ideas to turn impossible into possible. Despite of instability in Pakistan’s political and economical conditions, our youth have high potential to grow tremendously. Young talent of Pakistan keeps setting world records on international forums and makes the whole nation feel proud at them. Meeting with Arfa karim Randhawa- World’s youngest Microsoft certified professional, Bill Gates exclaimed that he does not know whether or not this young wonder kid was impressed by him, but he was certainly impressed by marvelous intellectual level and skills she possess.

Arfa Karim is a young student from Faisalabad, who at the age of 9, in 2004 became the youngest Microsoft certified professional. In recognition of her smartness, she was invited by Bill gates to visit the Microsoft headquarters in U.S.A which itself is a big honor. Arfa represented Pakistan on many international platforms. She was also invited by the IT professionals of Dubai for a two week stay. After the news was disclosed by foreign media, a competition was at rise in Pakistani TV channels and newspapers. All wanted to give full coverage of Arfa’s accomplishment, which in fact is an achievement for the whole nation, on their channels and newspapers respectively. She is a highly decorated student, one of her age, with many different rewards.

·         In 2005 August, Prime minister of Pakistan of that time presented her “Fatima Jinnah Gold medal” in the field of science and technology.

·         She was also rewarded with “Salaam Pakistan youth award”, in August 2005 by the president of Pakistan.

·         Arfa is the youngest recipient of Pakistan’s highest civil award “Pride of performance”.

Arfa Karim is the young bright star of Pakistan, who despite of all corruptions in Pakistan, grabbed this position and enabled us stand with our heads high. Not only Arfa, but the list goes on. Pakistan has produced incredible talent, rich in education, science, engineering, IT and software development. All we need to do is to focus our talent and help them in growing more. 

Ammar Afzal is another young IT genius from Okara. He secured one more world record for Pakistan by winning first global position in Stanford University England’s (SUE) World Computer Soft ware Course. He surprised the whole world by obtaining 4.99 marks out of 5 in Oracle 10. At the time of setting this record, he was the student of class 9^th and aged 15. “Ammar Afzal has earned dignity and honor for the nation by winning the top global position in the contest,” Sahiwal division commissioner Tariq Mehmood Khan said.

·         He was awarded with a cheque of Rs 100,000.

·         British Computer society has also offered him a job of Rs 25 lack per month.

·         He was also offered by US to accept their nationality for himself and his family, but this bold, patriot rejected the offer and vowed to serve Pakistan after completion of his education.

Pakistan is a land of world setters. If full attention is made sure on the government’s part to these growing young buds, then no doubt Pakistan will be no. 1 in every field. Our youth is optimistic and talented. They just need a leadership.  

Babar Iqbal is another legendary student from Dera Ismail Khan who is commonly known as “Genius Cyber Kid”. Making world records for Babar is not something new. At the age of 12, he sets forth world record in the field of computer. He is also one of the youngest Microsoft certified professional and the youngest certified wireless network administrator. He also became youngest certified web professional associate at the age of 10. Recently, at the age of 12, he has made yet another world record in Dubai and is also recognized as Youngest Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist now. Interestingly, the participants of this competition were aged from 20 to 35 years. Babar was the youngest participant, and secured the first position by defeating all others who were double in age to him.

·         President Asif Ali Zardari invited him to the presidency where he was awarded with a cheque of Rs 5 million in recognition of his extraordinary achievements. 

Muhammad Waqar Qureshi is a young student of BCS. He is just 20 but has grabbed three inventions in the field of IT on his credit. He bears a distinctive mind and is always ready to explore. Government should create opportunities where these bright stars of nation could polish their skills even more. His first invention is:

·         Non-touch Interface System

This is basically a glove which has all needed software and hardware applications, attached with a pen. By using this technology, one can be able to operate all his system including typing without even touching PC. This technology can be used as the substitute to our sometimes-annoying-mouse. “This is the first time that a person can interact with the computer through the air without touching anything. If a patient is on bed and he can’t move or walk then he can use his operating system through this device.” says Waqar.

·         Second invention under his belt is “Head Tracking System”. By wearing this device on head, cursor on monitor moves with the movement of head. Unfortunately, this device cannot perform well as it requires “Video goggles”. He could not attach video goggles as they are too expensive for him to afford. After the video goggles are added to this tool, it will be converted into Virtual Reality system as was shown in the Matrix film. It will leave the user with a feeling that he is inside the game, if the device is worn while playing games.

·         Waqar has also invented a system which can easily switch on or off all electrical appliances without any physical movement. “It was my personal project, keeping in view my budget and requirements. Presently I’m operating only eight devices, but it can operate a maximum of 250 devices, which is the maximum range of a parallel port.”, says Waqar.

·         These days he is working on another incredible, amazing project known as “Brain Interface system”. This device will be able to convert ones thoughts into occurrence.

Students like Waqar are an asset to the country. It is now our duty to nurture their talent.

In 1986 world saw FIRST ever computer virus created by Farooq Alvi brothers from Lahore. They named it “Brain”. IT was a boot sector virus that wildly spread across the world. However, Pakistani lads are also not lagging behind in the antivirus technology. Hafiz Usman and Imran made the first ever anti-virus of Pakistan which is also registered with the government of Pakistan. It is developed by “Real Soft”- a Pakistani software solutions company. This antivirus is available in market with the name of “Instant virus killer”. It is capable of not only killing the virus, but can also recover the lost data within seconds. Moreover it can fix the reboot issues of Microsoft windows affected by the virus and can give 90% protection against USBs, web and pirated CD viruses. 

Pakistanis are talented and genius in their fields. Be it the armed forces or the scientists, the educationalists or the researchers, the sportsmen or the software developers, we HAVE some of the finest brains in our country. Our people can do anything. What we only need is some motivation and opportunities. There is a shortage of energy all across the country and government finds no appropriate solution than increasing the rates of petroleum products. It should rather appreciate its own students who always lend their services to solve the problems of the country. The students of NED university Karachi created a fuel efficient car at a cost of 0.5 million named UZBAA. “The car is fully locally created and can cover 80 kilometers per litre, it has 70.cc cold back engine. The body is prepared from fiber glass, whereas its total weight is 125 kg”, says Haris Rehman, leader of the group. The car was made to represent Pakistan in the global competition arranged in Malaysia.

Pakistani students keeps astonishing world with their remarkable achievements in their respective fields. Observing the talent of Pakistan, the cream of our nation is being exported to other countries. They are offered with attractive scholarships, jobs and other opportunities by foreign countries. Unfortunately foreign powers can recognize our hidden rubies, but we keep our eyes closed. These students need our appreciation and ample opportunities. Contradictory to education sector, an average player from the national Pakistani cricket team earns more than 7 to 8 million per year as revealed by Pakistan official stats. They are also awarded with millions of rupees depending on their performance and numbers of fours and sixes per match. Sad, we have funds for sports but nothing for these bright young students of our country. Government needs to rearrange its preferences and should keep education as the top most of its agenda. Moreover, government and NGOs of Pakistan should arrange meetups for tech savvy youth and others, where they will be able to share ideas and develop recommendations, to serve their country in the best possible ways.