Ismaili.NET - Heritage F.I.E.L.D.

Close to 1,000 Muslim health care professionals from around the country will meet in Atlanta this weekend to discuss medical treatment and training programs in developing countries.
The doctors, nurses and researchers are with the Ismaili Health Professional Association, a Houston-based group that runs clinics and organizes missions in Asia and Africa.

Ismailis represent about 15 million of the more than 1 billion Muslims worldwide. They are a subset of Shiite Muslims, who are a separate, smaller Muslim community than the majority Sunni Muslims.

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The wealthy philanthropist, who praised Canada's multiculturalism, said it's time Islamic people joined global debates, writes HAYLEY MICK
The Aga Khan says the Muslim world has been late to join the West in the debate over the most pressing ethical issues of our time, such as stem-cell research.

'The Islamic world is far behind on some of these issues and yet we're facing them all the time,' the leader of 15 million Ismaili Muslims told the Citizen editorial board in a rare interview yesterday.

La déclaration suivante a été communiquée aujourd'hui par le porte-parole du Secrétaire général, M. Kofi Annan:Le Secrétaire général a appris avec tristesse la mort du Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, ancien Haut Commissaire des Nations Unies pour les réfugiés, philanthrope et ami de longue date des Nations Unies.

The majestic form and prominence of Nakhoda Masjid, in the din and bustle of central Calcutta, the remarkable mosque of Prince Ghulam Mohammad in Tollygunge, or the intricate stucco work and surface decoration on Nawab Wajid Ali Shah's tomb in Metiabruz.

Serena Tourism Promotion Services (a subsidiary of the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development) has signed a thirty-year lease concession agreement with the Government of Uganda and agreed to invest US$18 million investment for extensive refurbishment and upgrading of the former Nile Hotel which will re-open in September 2005 as the Kampala Serena Hotel.

His Highness the Aga Khan has announced the selection of the lead architect and the landscape architect for the three sites of the University of Central Asia. The three campuses, in Tekeli, Kazakhstan; Naryn, Kyrgyz Republic; and Khorog, Tajikistan, are being conceived as innovative 'university parks'.

The construction of five new bridges by the Aga Khan Foundation between the remote northeastern Afghan province of Badakhshan and the southeastern Badakhshoni Khui province in Tajikistan, will help improve the food situation in extremely vulnerable areas, aid workers told IRIN on Thursday. Both provinces are very mountainous, difficult to reach and are geographically isolated in economic terms.

Spiritual leader of Ismailis Prince Karim Aga Khan called on General Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali here on Wednesday and discussed matters pertaining to mutual interest with them.
Aga Khan held detailed talks with Mr Jamali on the prospects of investment in various fields especially the telecommunication, financial, and social sectors.

The Aga Khan, spiritual leader of the world's estimated 15 million Ismaili Muslims and one of the world's richest men, is planning to build a museum in midtown Toronto to house valuable collections of Islamic art -- the first of its kind in the English-speaking world.
The museum will also include an academic and cultural centre focused on the study and practice of pluralism.

War-battered Afghanistan, where using a cellphone is a frustratingly hit-and-miss affair, will get its second GSM network on Sunday, and the company providing it vows to make failed calls a thing of the past.
TDCA Ltd, trading under the name Roshan, meaning 'light' in the Dari language, is owned by a consortium grouping the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development, Monaco Telecom International (MTI), U.S.-based MCT Corp and French telecoms giant Alcatel.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/EE09Df02.htmlAsia Times
May 9, 2003
By Syed Saleem Shahzad

KASHMIR IN FOCUS
New start, new ideas and new faces

KARACHI - With both India and Pakistan appearing ready to make a paradigm shift in their policies on Kashmir, proposed talks on the disputed territory can be expected to be more precise and practical than the last abortive round in Agra in India in July 2001, and could result in a change in the region's political map.

If University of Toronto education students get a 'holier than thou' feeling from their convocation speaker this year, it's only because it is his Highness, the Aga Khan, a direct descendent of the Prophet Muhammed.
The Muslim spiritual leader will be in Toronto on Friday to receive an honorary doctor of laws from the university for his 'outstanding contributions to community service, higher education and philanthropy,' university officials said.

His Highness the Aga Khan is the 49th hereditary Imam, or spiritual leader, of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims.

The Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) is pleased to announce that the Kabul Serena Hotel was officially inaugurated today by His Excellency President Karzai and His Highness the Aga Khan. The opening of the restored and expanded Kabul Serena Hotel, the former Kabul Hotel, is a milestone in Afghanistan's post-conflict redevelopment.Designed by award-winning architect Ramesh Khosla, the Kabul Serena Hotel will provide Kabul with much-needed accommodation for visitors to the city and will constitute an important post-war resource for Kabul residents.

President Mwai Kibaki is congratulated by His Highness the Aga Khan, Imam of the Shia Ismaili Muslims, after the former officially opened the Aga Khan Academy at Kizingo in Mombasa yesterday. Photo by Gideon MaunduPresident Mwai Kibaki yesterday officially inaugurated the Aga Khan Academy in Mombasa, the first of a global network of Aga Khan academies to be established in Africa, Middle East and Asia.
The Head of State unveiled a plaque at Kizingo in Mombasa during a ceremony witnessed by His Highness the Aga Khan, the spiritual leader of the Shia Ismaili Muslims.

Sir Edwin Lutyens' buildings will be getting special visitors on October 6. For the first time, Sir Edwin's grandson Charles along with his cousins will visit the buildings designed by the legendary architect in the Capital.
The three are part of a 38-member group on a five-day tour to India, organised by the Lutyens Trust in London and the INTACH's London chapter.

Charles Lutyens is a trustee of the UK Lutyens Trust, an educative charity that protects and preserves Sir Edwin's works and offers maintenance.

Education Minister Zobaida Jalal said Tuesday that the education budget is expected to be further enhanced to Rs. 12.5 billion this year compared to last year and the shortage of textbooks would be over soon. 'Our budget requirements are huge: We are talking about anything from Rs. 12.5 billion, yet it will depend on the resources of the government, she said speaking as the chief guest at the Euro 20 million (about Rs. 1.28 billion) grant signing ceremony between Aga Khan Foundation Pakistan and European Commission (EC) for the Northern Pakistan Education Project (NPEP).

WHEN it comes to winning derbies, not many can do it as well as the Aga Khan can. Those famous red and green colours of his have already been carried to victory in four Blue Ribands at Epsom, plus five of the Irish version, and at Ayr yesterday Kalaman ensured the Scottish equivalent was added to the role of honour.
Success for the Kieren Fallon-ridden winner wasn't without its hiccups, with the champion, his mount and the legions who had bet them into 5-6 favourite having to survive an anxious wait for the stewards to confirm the result.

Insurgent violence wracks the countryside, but a building boom fueled by international aid, profits from the opium trade and foreign investment is remaking Afghanistan's dusty capital. The city even got its first five-star hotel Tuesday.
Four years after the Taliban's ouster, a shiny new office building rises amid Kabul's traditional mud-colored buildings, and there is a glitzy shopping mall boasting the country's only escalators. A bright U.S. Embassy is nearly ready, and suburbs of new homes are springing up.

But this city of 4 million people is far from being a metropolis.

Hilde F. Johnson, Minister of International Development, and His Highness the Aga Khan, Imam (spiritual leader) of the Ismaili Muslims today signed an agreement to enhance collaboration on development issues and programmes in Africa, Central and South Asia.