Adil Najam

I suspect that the majority of our readers have never even heard of the man featured in these photographs. However, I am quite sure that some here are very familiar with this man and his works, even though they may be less familiar with these particular photographs.

There is another portrait photograph of his that is quite well known and would have made this easier. But, that is from well before he had anything to do with Pakistan. Of the photographs above: the one on the left is from his last years, and the one on the right is a group photograph taken soon after the creation of Pakistan (he is seated center) when he headed a body of experts that discussed ideas about the shape of Pakistan’s constitution (amongst other things).

Adil Najam

For the last many days we have been carrying a Public Service Announcement banner in the comments section about the upcoming 10th Anniversary Convention of the Human Development Foundation (HDF).

I thought that I should say more about this and urge our readers in North America, and especially those living in and around Chicago, to seriously consider attending the Convention – to be held (US) Memorial Day Weekend (May 25-28, 2007) in Chicago. I know that the HDF team has been working very hard of putting together an exciting program which includes a thoughtful and thought-provoking set of panels and discussions but also a poetry session with Ahmad Faraz, music performances and a ‘Grand Bazar.’

Importantly, the Convention aspires to host meaningful discussions on social issues and human development in Pakistan with a clear focus on not only talking about important issues but designing action opportunities to do something about them.

Pervaiz Munir Alvi

Words travel from place to place and as a result spread from language to language. We all have heard the phrase “Spread the Word?. But be careful how you spread it. By mixing languages you might be creating the dreadful redundancy. Take the case of the Potomac River flowing through the capital of the United States of America or Lake Lynn in the state of West Virginia. You do not see a redundancy there? Look again. Potomac is a Greek word meaning river like in Mesopotamia, the land between rivers and Lynn is a Celtic or Welsh word meaning lake. Ok. How about Sahara (or Sierra) Desert. Sahara is an Arabic word, pronounced “Sa-ha-ra” and means desert. You don’t want to say “River River”, “Lake Lake or “Desert Desert”. Do you?