She was pride of Pakistan
Arfa, the youngest Microsoft certified professional in the world, dies
Karachi Pakistan has found it difficult to develop its institutions and produce talented young people due to the constant political, social and economic turmoil and instability.
Consciously or unconsciously this nation of 180 million awaits miracles to give them hope.
The death of Arfa Karim Randhawa dashed the hopes which the nation saw in her.
At the age of nine she became the youngest Microsoft certified professional in the world.
After battling a terminal disease for three weeks, Arfa died on Saturday night. So did the hopes of millions who adored and admired her as the “pride of Pakistan” due to her achievements at a young age.
Arfa, who was 16, may have been among very few Pakistanis who were internationally acclaimed for their educational or vocational talent. Dr Abdus Salam, the Nobel laureate earned himself that prize with his work in physics in the 1970s.
After him, nobody else had the title of the “pride of Pakistan” until Arfa gave this country an opportunity to keep its chin up in the international community.
Soon after Arfa became the world’s youngest MCP in 2005 she was awarded many distinctions at home. Arfa became the youngest recipient of the Pride of Performance Award the country’s president gives as a lifetime achievement award and is regarded as the highest civilian award. She received the Fatimah Jinnah Gold Medal in the f ield of Science and Technology. She also received the Salaam Pakistan Youth Award, again f rom t he President of Pakistan.
Conference
Her unparalleled life continued in Barcelona in 2006 when she participated in t he Microsoft development conference. Arfa was the only Pakistani among 5,000 experts from around the world.
She dreamed big and wanted to set up a “digicom valley” like Silicon Valley in neighbouring India. “It would be not one commercial basis but for the betterment of Pakistan,” she was shown on television saying in an earlier interview broadcast here to remember her.
Arfa’s body was wrapped in a Pakistani flag and was to be buried in her ancestral cemetery in Faisalabad. The Punjab chief minister, politicians, academics and many people bid her farewell in Lahore.
“She was extraordinary since her childhood,” a sobbing father said after the funeral prayers.