Presenting a Strategic Plan is something of a poisoned chalice. On one hand it is an ideal opportunity to demonstrate your understanding of the business and impress pretty senior people about your business acumen. On the other hand its very nature, unlike that of operating plans, invites very wide-ranging intellectual discussions with executive management during the presentation. A slip there can have very serious and permanent consequences.

The challenge therefore is to build up a reasonably believable plan and present it in a manner that, at the end, you still have your job intact. Having survived a number of such sessions, and now mostly having the pleasure of being in the reviewing audience, I do get asked for advice on best survival tips. In my opinion it’s more of a matter of avoiding certain key pitfalls. So here goes my two cents or seven and a half halala’s worth of advice…

First, bond thyself and thy audience. Now this is the real easy part, provided of course you are hot, blond, of the right friendly disposition and can successfully give Pamela Anderson a run for her money. For all the rest of us this is a big challenge.

It always pays to be humble and suitably deferential towards the audience, most of whom , except for the owners progeny, are unlikely to be anything other than shrewd and seasoned business executives. Time-honored openers like “it’s a pleasure presenting to all of you”, work all the time.

Stating that all your labor is, at the most, only likely to lead to a better understanding of the business challenges is another time tested winner: does all this sounds corny? Yes it is, but remember this is all about survival. Nobody likes a wise guy who pretends he is the biggest know all ever, so please do not come across as one, especially not at the start.

Second, know thy business and its limits. Pretty obvious, right? But seldom adhered to! While discussing the key objectives of the plan, we all have this irresistible urge to impress the audience. And in our zeal to impress, our vision comes across as being on par with the desires of a modern day Alexander. However, unless you are a Harvard dropout or had been given away at birth, and now are willing to cheat, copy, bully and lie your way to top, chances are slim that you will be the next Bill Gates or Steve Jobs and lead your organization to everlasting glory. Plus of course, there is the small matter of having a high enough IQ.

Please ensure that you come across as someone who knows the difference between a vision and a dream.

Third, sell strategies they, not you, think are implementable. Therefore, please spare the audience the details of your grand designs related to the new world order. Banish the thoughts of revolutionizing the industry , stick to leveraging what your businesses core competencies are and you should have a built up a fairly reasonable pointer towards where all of you could possibly land up in another three to five years. And please keep the language simple and avoid grandiose expressions. The number of times I come across the words “passion” “anticipation” and “excitement” would make most of our film starlets blush.

Fourth, explain thy key plan assumptions well, and near the start. This does not mean showing a bewildering array of charts setting out endless population, GDP, inflation and sale trends numbers. Try building on something more interesting based on consumer insights, price points evolution, channel segmentation, etc. It is advisable to invest some money on good market research beforehand instead of downloading pages from CIA fact book. This should add credibility to the numbers you are building your whole plan on.

At the fifth place comes tackling thy enemy’s evil plans. Please keep in mind that everyone in that room is aware that you are not, unfortunately, the only player in the market, and that the enemy would also be planning your business’s demise. So an inadequate competitive analysis section makes you look quite foolish and out of touch with reality. Both of these outcomes can have very serious career repercussions.

As for number six, please be cautioned that Capital Expenditure both mattereth and hurtheth the moistest. Now you are on really dangerous grounds. Your audience will know, from bitter experience, that imprudent CAPEX outlays have a striking resemblance to bad marriages. You continuously regret getting into them and it’s impossible to avoid the consequences; and no wonder as most of the CAPEX requests I review are meant to look good on only one place, the Operations Directors CV! So only present what has been thoroughly assessed. Think instead of upgrades, and possibly leasing, and thou should be on safer grounds. This, by the way, applies to romantic liaisons also…

And seventh and the last, and the most critical. Do not wait to be asked questions, you do it all the time. Take the lead in asking them questions and then pointing out the answers in your presentation impresses them a lot, also makes them feel grateful for not having to think too much!

The best way as ever is to be well prepared and to understand that strategic plans are a means to an end, not an end by themselves. This way you will enjoy the experience. And hopefully survive to fight another day…

Must have been fun, wish we could have been there to see Bill dish him a new one: BG: Hey aren’t you from that country that a. ignored the plight of Arfa Karim at a critical period of her illness and b. hates on all Americans for being sadists? Funny how my people stepped in [...]

Awkward Conversations Between Bill Gates & PM Gilani at Davos is a post from: PakMediaBlog All Rights Reserved.

Well, the Global Fund has had a big week.  It’s been ten years since the creation of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, and the recent news about the fund has not been great: internal divisions, questions about improper funding allocations, missing money, and financial shortfalls.  On the other hand, the Global Fund has been key, along with PEPFAR, to incredible gains against HIV/AIDS, TB, and malaria in the last decade.  In November of last year, the Global Fund stated that it was canceling its latest round of funding and would not disburse funds for new programs and projects until 2014.  The global health community was understandably alarmed, especially in the climate of the global economic recession.  As of last week, however, the fortunes of the Global Fund may be turning around.

First, the Global Fund announced that Executive Director Michel Kazatchkine would step down in March.  He cited the recent executive-level re-organization for his decision.  A General Manager, Gabriel Jaramillo, has been appointed to manage day-to-day operations for the fund.  Following reports of financial mismanagement and alleged fraud last year, some donor countries canceled or suspended funding.

The re-organization and other internal changes have restored confidence, and coupled with the fund’s impact over the last ten years, it remains key to rolling back the deleterious effects of malaria, TB, and HIV.  In an opinion piece for Reuters, Natasha Billmoria of the Friends of the Global Fight Against Aids, Tuberculosis, and Malaria argued that more must be done to bolster the Global Fund’s coffers, writing: “We’re in a tough global economy, to be sure, but we’re also primed to beat back AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria.”  She cited the success of the Global Fund, which has put 3.3 million people living with HIV on antiretroviral treatment, provided PMTCT services to more than one million pregnant women living with HIV, detected and treated 8.6 million cases of tuberculosis, and distributed 230 million bed nets to prevent malaria.  The fund itself estimates that it has saved 7.7 million lives in ten years.  The International HIV/AIDS Alliance released a report last week discussing the potential impact of the Global Fund’s cancellation of its funding round in November, studying the effects this lack of funding would have in five countries.  The report called for donors to provide an estimated $2 billion to fill the funding gap.

“The internal checks and balances have worked in every case…but if you’re going to do business in Africa, you’re going to have some losses.” -Bill Gates

Ask and ye shall receive, it seems.  At the World Economic Forum, Bill Gates announced that his foundation had pledged a $750 million “promissory note” to the Global Fund.  Mr. Gates said that the economic recession was “no excuse for cutting aid to the world’s poorest.”  This announcement marks a bit of a shift for the Gates Foundation, which in the past has disbursed $650 million to the Global Fund for vaccines and innovations, rather than ARV distribution and day-to-day operations.  In his annual letter on behalf of the foundation, Mr. Gates supported the Global Fund’s efforts and pointed out that despite some reports, the fund had had less than five percent of its funding misused and had instituted further internal reforms that will decrease those problems.  Mr. Gates also argued that some financial mismanagement was a cost of working in the developing world.  He was quoted by AP as saying: “The internal checks and balances have worked in every case [at the Global Fund]…but if you’re going to do business in Africa, you’re going to have some losses.”

Although $750 million is not a trifling sum, it is not the $2 billion or more needed to finance grants at the Global Fund.  With his announcement, Mr. Gates has demonstrated his confidence in the Global Fund, which might inspire bilateral donors to honor their pledges and/or restore interrupted funding.  Recent internal changes at the Global Fund may also prompt donors to donate.  We are certainly witnessing a turning point in the fight against some major diseases, such as HIVand malaria, and it is a shame that these partial successes have arrived in tandem with a global recession that shows few signs of turning around soon.  With a strong, well-financed Global Fund, we may, with hope, see  an HIV-free generation and the further curbing of malaria and TB.  Mr. Gates’ support of the Global Fund should give it the much-needed shot in the arm that will help us achieve these goals.

Header photo available here, via USACE Europe District, CC BY 2.0.

Microsoft co-founder and Harvard drop out is redirecting his philanthropic efforts in a new direction (though not necessarily moving away from polio) towards research in agriculture. In a letter posted on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation website, he explains the the irony that the starving 15% of the world are farmer families. He goes [...]

Bill Gates Will Feed The World is a post from: PakMediaBlog All Rights Reserved.

Pakistan struggles to make progress against polio
Child malnutrition and vaccination refusals are hindering Pakistan’s effort to battle polio, and the health community is seeking new ways to address the problem. Despite authorities’ backing for an ambitious vaccination program last year, the number of cases in 2011 actually increased over 2010.

German researchers pave way to cheaper malaria drug
Researchers in Germany have developed a way to synthesize artemisinin, a drug crucial to anti-malaria efforts, using oxygen and light — a breakthrough that should make artemisinin not only easier to produce, but more affordable. “The impact of this is hard to overestimate,” said one observer, industrial chemist Jack Newman.

Polio gains in Afghanistan threatened by outbreak
Polio cases in Afghanistan nearly tripled in 2011 in a major setback to international public health efforts to eradicate the disease. Dr. Bruce Aylward of the World Health Organization said, “This is a national tragedy to end up with a major polio outbreak, especially with all the effort they have put into it. It increases the risk to neighboring countries and is both a local and national, and international, concern.

India sets sights on higher education
Indian authorities are scrambling to build 1,000 universities and 50,000 colleges over the next decade to promote higher education and development. The number of young Indians entering the workforce is expected to reach 100 million by 2020, and authorities hope increased higher education opportunities will help propel India’s economy in the decades to come. 

Valuing Indian women, by the numbers
A considerable drop in the number of girls in India as a result of sex-selective abortions and general neglect could, in fact, make women more valuable in accordance with the law of supply and demand. Not only could women begin to be paid better in relation to men, but their marriage value could rise too, ostensibly reducing the burden of dowries on families.

Kenyan faces legal action over child bride
A Kenyan man facing charges for defiling a child bride he paid about $58 for has called for the girl’s parents to be brought in to corroborate. Child marriage remains commonplace in Kenya due to chronic poverty, tradition and the desire to protect family honor

Prioritizing the end of polio
The last recorded case of polio in India affected an 18-month-old girl in West Bengal, Rukhsar Khatoon, who recovered from the disease without lasting paralysis — only a few years ago, the country recorded as many as 100,000 cases a year. Eradication of the disease can happen elsewhere, according to philanthropist Bill Gates, when there is “political will, quality immunization campaigns and an entire nation’s determination.

UNICEF officials talks of past, future challenges
In an interview, Susan Bissell, chief of child protection programs for UNICEF, talks about influences on her career, as well as the reputation of the UN agency and the emerging global challenges it is facing. Among the programs she mentions is the public-private partnership, Together for Girls, for which the agency is conducting first-ever surveys of violence against children — including sexual violence — in households across the world.

Every thing about her has this surreal symbolism. Even the fact that the Heavens opened up the day she left us in tears of our own.

In our culture, the dearly departed are only mourned but westwards, there is also a certain celebration of life just etched away. If life is about stories well lived and lessons well learnt, it is a tradition worth its weight in gold.

Arfa Karim Randhawa had a rather longish name for such a sweet little kid. The baby fat on her cheeks and those twinkling, inquisitive eyes never left her even as she was on the threshold of adolescence. For someone so special, she was like the daughter everyone felt was their own.

I never had difficulty remembering the long name though — which had 17 letters but in the end, not even one alphabet made up for each of her 16-year tryst with destiny — from the time she first got everyone to stand up and take notice in 2004.

I was living abroad those days and one of the first things I did on a vacation back home was to go to the PTV headquarters in Islamabad and fetch a copy of the first TV interview she gave after becoming the world’s youngest Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) at the age of nine.

The market — including the limited private media — hadn’t yet wisened to the genius so I could only lay a hand on a videotape, not a CD, of the recording through an old acquaintance. To watch and hear the little darling, I had to pull out an old VCR from the attic!

But it was worth every minute, if only for the tremolo in her rendition of an old Bulleh Shah verse. You could be forgiven for forgetting in that profound sweep, that here was a prodigy whose first call to fame was being the world’s youngest MCP!

What — and who — is she, you wondered, even as she cast a spell on you. There was no escape from being awed — as many an obit writer has readily admitted following her demise last Saturday.

Fast forward to last month when one saw the shocking website image of Pakistan’s pride in death’s icy hands, barely recognisable from the sparkling form one had always associated with her.

At year-end, rumours first circulated that Arfa had died but one found out through Ali Nawazish Moeen, another world record holder with 23 A’s in A ‘Levels, that it wasn’t the case and subsequently, some miraculous movement was noted, leading to a fervent hope of recovery.

Microsoft co-founder and former CEO Bill Gates, who was wowed by the prodigy when she visited Microsoft headquarters at his invitation in 2004, contacted her parents and hired a panel of doctors, who advised their Pakistani counterparts through video link.

In the end, hope was short-lived — a bit like the 1990 Robert Di Nero starrer Awakenings, based on Oliver Slack’s 1973 memoir, in which a new doctor tries a chemical cure on a comatose patient. When the first patient awakes, he is an adult having gone into a coma in his early teens. The film then delights in the new awareness of the patients. However, all patients including the protagonist essayed by Di Nero, return to their vegetative state.

Arfa’s 22-day ordeal had captured the hearts and minds of a nation riven by strife and uncertainty. For a country struggling with existential threats, and a breeding ground for bad headlines, Arfa was like a beacon of light.

Even as short a life as hers encapsulated brilliantly the richness of endeavour, capacity for achievement and a heart in its right place. But while this maybe a universal sentiment, she found her way to every beating Pakistani heart because of how much she cared for her country.

For someone so young, Arfa swore by an ambition to improve the lot of her village Ramdewali. Significantly, she was running a computer training centre for the less privileged that she had herself established.

It was an amazing sight — the little Arfa driving home the importance of reading aptitude early and creating a conducive environment for the seed to grow, interview after interview, speech after speech at 10. She would quote from books and authors she read fervently to draw the context. Two years ago, she had run through the entire Oxford dictionary as well — every word and term practiced for comprehension. Arfa was also engaged with Nasa after winning a competition last year.

Removed from the academic, her flight was not imaginary — she earned certification as a pilot from a flying club in Dubai at 10 and remains the youngest recipient of the prestigious President’s Pride of Performance award in the field of science and technology. There were other awards but space constraints do not permit an elaborate appraisal.

Her desire to explore and reach the zenith was evident from a recent mail to former Higher Education Commission chairman Dr Attaur Rehman, where she sought consultation on venturing into “a field where there is more room to explore and which would benefit Pakistan”.

Everyone who met Arfa came away awe-struck by her confidence, never mind the special gift she had in her chosen field. Yet the only time, she was publicly seen emotional was when she said, teary-eyed, during a speech on stage: Pakistan hamari maa hai, is ke beghair hum kuch nahi (Pakistan is our mother, we’re nothing without her).

Words fail me at our loss. RIP, Arfa.

I know that I do not write well. My words are simple and do not have the power to feel someone forced to read. Neither I am some special person that people give my blog visits and keep in touch with it. My posts and topics are also ordinary so always fail to create a [...]

By Ali Moeen Nawazish for The News International

It was 23rd March 2007, a bright and sunny day. I was sitting along with a fellow distinction holder in the waiting room at the studios of state-run TV. We both had this smirk about ourselves as if we had conquered some unachievable mountain and that we were “special”. After all we were going to be on TV. While we were waiting for our turn to get our few minutes in the limelight, walked in this little girl hardly 12 years old. “Hi, how are you? What have you done at such a young age?” asked my counterpart.

“I am the world’s youngest Microsoft certified professional,” she replied putting both of us to shame. That was the first time I met Arfa Karim. First impressions? Amazingly talented girl, capable of doing big things and absolutely confident and sure about herself. In the first two minutes you meet her, she will wow you with her charm and intellect.

I communicated with Arfa after that through email and Facebook in 2008 and 2009, and while we all know of her extraordinary abilities, how she could fly a plane and when she met Bill Gates, I wanted to share something that few people know about her. Throughout our conversations one theme was always recurring, she wanted to do good and help others. She talked endlessly about how she wanted to build a computer lab back in her village, how it was her dream to impart IT education to those who didn’t have access to it in Pakistan. She was well aware of the challenges that lay ahead of her and the country. I feel that somehow she understood the expectations that people had from her, but at the same time was taking it in a stride. She tried hard to ensure that the expectations don’t affect her own self-direction in life. She was also very kind hearted and a generous spirit too, whenever someone would ask her for help or anyone would refer someone to her, she would make sure she helped that person to the best of her abilities.

It is one thing to acknowledge one’s blessings and thank people for the love and affection that they show, but it is completely another to decide to dedicate a part of your life to give something back to the community and country that made you who you are. One thing she often spoke of is how some wouldn’t take her ideas seriously because she was a little girl. People would judge her ideas and plans by her age and not by their merit alone. About an idea for rural education, she wrote: “I myself have been working, or trying to work, for this objective. The problem here is that if I come up with plans, no one takes them seriously because I am a “14-year old kid”. My grandfather was a villager and we are still an agricultural family. I still retain ties with my rural background and so would be proud to be part of something like this.” A phenomenon perhaps often too common in our society. Yet, she always had the resolve to deal with it and find solutions around these problems, as any good software developer would. Arfa was a girl who was never going to let anyone stand in her way, no matter what it took.

By any measure of the word she was truly a gifted girl with her own little quirks that made her who she was. She wanted to get done with her O Levels long before the actual time she had to give them, because quite frankly she didn’t need more time. To one of our conversations in which I was encouraging her to take more time, she wrote: “To have more time was the reason I delayed it a little. Otherwise, I would have been finished with my O levels in this session. I was thinking that if I stretch it out too long, I might get bored with it in the end.” Perhaps the only person I knew in the world that would give exams early because she would get bored with the content.

It is somewhat ironic that I last met her this 14th August 2011 at another PTV recording. She had grown up, but only a little, had matured by miles. Yet, what was astounding and amazing about her was that her spirit was the same of that 9-year old girl who dared to dream big and think different. Her spirit was the same of that 9-year old girl who had made it a point to not let herself be captured by the notion of what is possible and what isn’t. As ambitious as ever and talented even more, Arfa was ready to take on the world in her stride. It is unfortunate that she was taken from us well before our time, but as with all great people God calls them early to Him.

Arfa, you will truly be missed and the youth of Pakistan has suffered a great loss today. May Allah bless you and your family. You were a good friend and a great inspiration. Your spirit and memory will live on in our hearts for as long as we live. The youth lost one of its best today, but you have inspired so many and we promise to not let you down.

Arfa Karim Zindabad! Pakistan Zindabad!

(The writer is Youth Ambassador of Geo and Jang Group. Email: am.nawazish@jang.group.com.pk Facebook: facebook.com/ali.moeen.nawazish

Filed under: Pakistan, Pakistanis Tagged: Ali Moeen Nawazish, Arfa Karim, Arfa Karim Randhawa, Bill Gates, MCP, Microsoft, Microsoft Certified Professional, Pakistan, Pakistani Youth, World’s Youngest MCP

Pakistani young student and asset Arfa Karim from Faisalabad, Pakistan passed away on 14 January 2012’s night during her medication in intensive care unit due to some brain disease. Everybody is a genius but if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it [...]

Childhood and honors of Arfa Karim Randhawa:

it is identify that requires absolutely no introduction. The Young Daughter of Pakistan make us proud when she had become the first Microsoft Certified Professional in the year 2004 at the age of only 9.

She was Born in January 14th, 1995 in Faisalabad, she got the title of the youngest ever MCP by 2004-2008. Arfa was always a rare child. Her parents said that she displayed signs of an outstanding memory from a extremely early age.

When her dad bought her a computer, that is only for e-mail purposes, she exhibited skills that exceeded her years. Studying the things she had been accomplishing, her father took the girl to APTECH, a nearby computer institute. Whilst giving a conversation on ARcast, she explained the storyline in her words:

Actually when I was six years of age, I received my personal first computer; when you see new stuff you want to find, what exactly is it? How does will it be work? I Really used to play around and I got to know various things about it from the reach as well as demo method and in about two years I obtained to know how to work on windows and different software’s completely. After that, I did previously make a lots of presentations for my dad as well as my mom. My father and my mom used to watch myself and say “she got abilities in computers” therefore then they took me to an institute close by our house and there I began to learn C sharp and then I give exam of MCP.”

Certainly, there she advanced a lot as well as passed the ‘Microsoft Certified Application Developer’ qualification in 4 months. Microsoft officials in Pakistan tested her programming abilities through an additional exam as well.

Then She was invited to Microsoft’s Redmond campus by Bill Gates for a private meeting and to better introduce her to the organization as well as provide people at the campus a chance to meet her. She went to the campus together with her father while her mother and two young brothers remained home.

A few days long tour included clinical tours and also informal times with Microsoft staff as well as executives. She made a good effect on Gates as well as every person who met the girl and entertained Bill Gates with her confidence while she questioned him about the little percentage of women on the Redmond campus. “It needs to be balanced – the same amount of men with an equal amount of women,” she said soon after.

Somasegar, a company vice chairman at Microsoft, described her in his website, declaring: “She is a Fifth grader who visited all of us at Microsoft for a few days together with her father.  We had a large amount of fun in meeting Arfa and obtaining a chance to understand what motivated the girl’s to shoot for such an accomplishment from such a early age. She undoubtedly has some clear ideas about the kinds of conditions she envisions technology may enable sometime soon.” It was her who chosen to invite Arfa to Redmond after reading about the girl in a inside company newsletter.

Awards of Arifa Karim

After her return to Pakistan, Arfa received several awards. Among the ones awarded by the government were the actual Fatima Jinnah Gold Medal in the field of Technology and science, the Salam Pakistan Youngsters Award and the Presidents Award regarding Pride of Performance of which she was the actual littlest recipient ever before.

Interview of Arifa Karim

Interview of Arifa Waqar in Proud Parents by Samina Waqar

Interview in Aik Din Geo Ke Sath with Arfa Karim

Pictures of Arifa Karim

Arifa Karim Passes Away in Lahore

Arfa Karim, The littlest Microsoft Certified Professional, dead in Lahore, Arifa was being affected by critical health related situation and she is facing ventilator that result in brain damage.Similar Posts:

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By Tariq Butt for The Gulf Today

Funeral prayers of the world’s youngest Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) Arfa Karim Randhawa, who passed away on Saturday night after protracted illness, were held in Lahore on Sunday.

The prayers, held in Cavalry Ground, were attended by Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and her close family members. Her coffin was draped in the national flag. She was 16. The teenage genius suffered an attack.

She got recognition and became her a source of inspiration for young and old across Pakistan. Arfa had an epileptic attack on Dec.22 and had been in a coma since.

Well-wishers prayed and watched her progress closely.

On Dec.29, doctors said there was no hope for her survival, and that her life support could be switched off any time. However, she had then miraculously responded to certain stimuli, as recently as Jan.13.

Two more funeral prayers will be held for Arfa, one in Faislabad and another in her ancestral village where she is to be buried.

As Pakistanis mourned the loss of the child prodigy, President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani also expressed their grief and sorrow over the sad demise of Arfa. They prayed to Allah Almighty to rest the departed soul in eternal peace and grant courage to the bereaved family to bear the loss with fortitude.

Jamaat-e-Islami head Syed Munawar Hasan expressed grief at the death.

Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain said that Pakistan has lost “precious talent” in Arfa. He expressed grief at Arfa’s demise and has sympathised with the bereaved family members and prayed for Arfa’s soul.

Arfa became the world’s youngest Microsoft certified professional in 2004 at the age of nine. She was also invited to the Microsoft headquarters in the US by Bill Gates for being the world’s youngest MCP.

Gates had also offered to conduct the child legend’s treatment in the US, but the doctors advised against transporting her to the US due to the risk involved. However, the doctors continued her treatment in consultation with specialists in the United States.

Arfa had earned the Fatima Jinnah Gold Medal in the field of science and technology and the Salam Pakistan Youth Award in 2005 for her achievements. She is also the youngest recipient of the President’s Award for Pride of Performance.

She earned her first flight certificate by flying a plane at a flying club in Dubai at the age of 10, and was invited by Microsoft in 2006 to be a keynote speaker at the Tech-Ed Developers Conference, where she was the only Pakistani among over 5,000 developers.

Arfa represented her country Pakistan on a variety of international forum. She was also included as the honourable guest by IT Professionals of Dubai for two weeks stay in Dubai. During that trip, Arfa was awarded by a number of medals and awards from various tech societies and computer companies working in Dubai.

Arfa was a genius who had left an indelible mark on the international IT scene, winning millions of hearts in Pakistan and abroad for her excellence. The death of the child sensation had left millions of people, along with her family, relatives and friends, grieved over this national tragedy.

Filed under: Pakistan, Pakistanis Tagged: Altaf Hussain, Arfa Karim Randhawa, Asif Ali Zardari, Bill Gates, Dubai, Lahore, Lahore IT Park, MCP, Microsoft, Microsoft Certified Professional, Pakistan, Pakistanis, Redmond, Washington, World’s Youngest MCP, Yousuf Raza Gilani

A good and thought provoking article . http://www.express.com.pk/epaper/PoPupwindow.aspx?newsID=1101426333&Issue=NP_LHE&Date=20120115