KNOWLEDGE CITY IN REMOTE AREA OF PAKISTAN

For the presentation of Namal Knowledge City and on behalf of the board of Namal Education Foundation, Imran KhanImran Khan hosted a dinner at his residence which was attended by the ‘who’s who’ of Islamabad including Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gillani, with some guests coming from Lahore and Karachi to lend their support to his dream project. A lovely atmosphere had been created byChristina Afridi assisted by Arsalan of Verve Event Management to put guests in a mellow mood – soft lights and sweet music adding to the ambience. Imrans sister Alima and her husband Sohail along with other supporters acted as hosts as well and warmly welcomed guests on arrival

After the arrival and welcome of the prime minister, a documentary was screened which showed Namal University - which is in Mianwali - and its students as they went about their activities and it was good to see that girls were part of the student body. The host, while addressing the gathering said, “This is not a political gathering. I invited everyone across the political divide except the president for security concerns because in case anything happened to him I would be the prime suspect!” He went on to say that the idea for a Knowledge City had come to him when he was campaigning in Mianwali during the 2002 elections. “I was appalled at the high level of unemployment amongst the youth,” he said “There and then I resolved to set up a technical college but changed my mind and decided to build a world class university instead.” The first part of the dream, according to him, was the beautiful location of the site - a lake surrounded by hills and flat areas - which has been donated by the villagers and secondly, when he was offered the chancellorship of Bradford University, he realized that he had access to an enormous academic technical back up to pursue it.

“I was under no illusion that it was a huge challenge,” he said. “It’s not easy to set up a center of excellence in a remote, albeit beautiful location in one of the most conservative areas of Pakistan where even my family members have to go fully covered up and girl’s education is a rare phenomenon. We need funds to set up a university of international standards. So I decided to ask industrial houses and overseas Pakistanis - who are our greatest asset - to join hands with me.” Adding that all the money spent by students going abroad to study could build dozens of universities, he concluded by thanking the many people who had responded to his invitation or helped with cash and kind, notably Rehman Mir for his very substantial donation in the early years to start the Namal College; Mian Mansha for bearing the cost of the hostel; Director Administration, Bradford University, Alison Danborugh and VC Nimal University, Dr Irfan Awan for their advice and input; Christina and Arsalan for arranging everything with a sentence that surprised - “I have never arranged anything like this in my house” – which goes to show he is willing to go to any length to achieve his goal, even to opening his house to the curious, of which there must be many!

The PM speech has been covered in today’s paper so I will not mention anything about that except to say he spoke from the heart about his governments commitment to education, which would be a major contribution in fight extremism in the country.

Dinner was followed by a qawwali performance which featured the renowned vocalist Rahat Fateh Ali Khan which lasted late into the night and was enjoyed by the young and young at heart who stayed on despite the chill that eventually fell since the function was outdoors. Throughout the performance the names of those who donated money for a scholarship for one student (Rs 200,000 per year) were announced. More information is available on the Nimal website for those who want to donate to this worthy cause.

ISHRAT HYATT