KARACHI CHRONICLE: A deep, profound loss

Arifa Karim Randhawa, the world's youngest Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) died on Saturday January 14 at the Combined Military Hospital Lahore, losing her fight against epilepsy which led to cardiac arrest. She was 16. 0! what a national loss this is.
We were shocked, we were saddened, we measured her greatness by the thousands of young people who travelled from many parts of the country to her village graveyard in Chak-4BJ to attend her funeral. It is a sad comment on Pakistani attitude, that we moan a death but never celebrate a life as we should have.
Now that she is gone things are being done to remember Arifa. She was nine-years old when she became the world's youngest MCP in 2004. She was invited to the USA by Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates in 2005. It was only after that Pakistan government honoured her with the Fatima Jinnah Gold Medal in the field of science and technology. The same year she also received the Salaam Pakistan Youth Award set up by Nobel laureate Dr Abdul Salaam and, of course another honour was heaped, the President's Pride of Performance award. From 2005 to 2012 the nation hardly knew of her existence.
The news of her death immediately led our leaders to express their shock and grief. She had been in hospital for 26 days before her death but nobody took much notice. The news of her illness was a minor headline in newspapers and a footnote in television news reports. Even her death did not get the first billing since it was more important to note the idiocies of our government leaders than the death of a mere prodogy with no political or scandalous stain on her to make it worthwhile to report sensationally.
Karachi, where electronic technology has become as vital to the city as her commerce and industry, and where a modern IT Media City is being developed, suddenly decided that the city should be named after her. This was announced by Sindh Information Technology Minister Raza Haroon. The city will be called Arifa Karim Media City. Did she have to die before receiving this honour? I suppose now they will also name her nameless village after Arifa. Chak-4BJ is not a proper name; it is merely a geographic locator on the Punjab map.
Karachi University is set to hold the first Arifa Karim memorial lecture on January 25. This was announced by the chairman of the computer science department, Professor Syed Muhammad Aqil, who said the memorial leacture would be held at the KU on January 14 every year.
Everyone is moaning the big loss. Nobody celebrated the good fortune of having in our midts such as prodogy as Arifa Karim. It seems so hypocritical to hold her up now that she is dead as a role model for children or mention that she paved the way for other children and that her achievements would remain a beacon for all Pakistani children. What had these same people done to shine her light on the youth of Pakistan, what have they done even now except exploit her name and fame?
The reaction to Arifa Karim's death is noteworthy. It tells us that we are a nation that does not care for the living. What do you expect from a people who can make believe "Bhutto zinda hai, zinda hai" and "Bibi zinda hai, zinda hai"? We live in denial politically and otherwise too.
All nation, with the exception of Pakistan, work to promote a national identity. In our country were the average age is below 25 years, there is dire need to inculcate in the young a sense of nationality. We only have a sentimental sense of nationality, and that too is subsumed under provincialism. We have no commitment, we feel we do not owe anything to this country. Look at the brain drain in the name of personal prosperity. People on whom Pakistan spent billions of rupees to make them professionals in the field of medicine, science and technology and business administration make a beeline for the USA, Canada and Australia and in smaller numbers to the UK and less developed European countries.
It is quite possible that most of the brilliant young Pakistanis who leave the country may have wanted to stay at home even if they earned just a pittance compared to what they would earn abroad. So many, have left because there was no recognition of their worth. Jobs are awarded to professionals with clout, that is, political influence. Too many deserving merit students are denied jobs.
This partisan manner of serving the future is due to the fact that there is no sustained effort to develop the country. No serious work to create jobs. The 10 level of Pakistanis is pretty high and it is capable of producing many Arifa Karim Randhawas. But the children with lively intelligence are languishing as motor mechanics, rag pickers, minders of cows and sheep. Their future is as drug addicts, thieves and suicide bombers. That is the stark reality, the dark future of Pakistani youth. Their role model cannot be Arifa Karim; their role model is whoever knows how to make a fast buck.