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

Prince Karim Aga Khan, leader of the Shia Ismaili Muslims, arrived in Dhaka Monday by private plane to a red carpet reception and was greeted by chief adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed at the airport.

The Aga Khan, who landed at Zia International Airport at 1.30pm, was driven to the Sonargaon Hotel where he will stay during his four-day visit.

A contingent of the Armed Forces accorded the Aga Khan a guard of honour at the airport.

Dhaka - Aga Khan, the leader of Ismaili Muslims across the world, arrived in Dhaka on Monday to a rousing welcome at the start of a four-day visit to Bangladesh, officials said. Fakhruddin Ahmed, the de facto prime minister of the interim government, was at the airport along with other senior officials to greet the head of the Ismailis, a group who live as permanent residents in some 25 countries.

The airport was bedecked by flowers and festoons as the Aga Khan stepped down to a red-carpet reception.

Leader of the Aga Khan Community in the world, Prince Karim Aga Khan is expected to arrive in Bangladesh on 19 May on a 3-day visit. Bangladesh will accord VVIP [Highest Official Status] to him during his visit. A gazette notification was already issued in Dhaka on May 12 in this regard.

Prince Aga Khan, spiritual leader of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims, arrives Dhaka today on a four-day state visit.

Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed will receive him at Zia International airport.

Price Aga Khan's visit marks the golden jubilee of his Imamat. He became the Imam on July 11, 1957 at the age of 20, succeeding his grandfather, Sir Sultan Mahomed Shah Aga Khan.

Prince Aga Khan will call on President Iajuddin Ahmed, Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed and hold meetings with several advisers.

What and who triggered the announcements of LIF in all JK of the world? That is an important question in the matter of the Copyright Lawsuit purported to be from “The Aga Khan.”

In February, long before the lawsuit, there was a phone call received by one of the defendants after he reported to Aiglemont that he had discovered that the Imam’s signature was being forged.

Why was it necessary to forge Imam’s signature? Who did it? How many more forgeries were done?

Prime Minister Stephen Harper says Canada and the Ismaili community are bonded by shared values of tolerance, compassion, community service and, especially devotion to pluralism.

His comments are contained in a special message to the Arusha Ismaili reunion taking place in Toronto from July 30 to August 1 this year.

In a surprisingly rapid twist of events, both Mr Tajdin and Mr Jiwa have filed their respective statements of Defense this 29th of April 2010. They affirm to being devoted followers who will unconditionally abide by the wishes of the Aga Khan, whom they glorify in their defense.

Mr Tajdin declares that:

He has not been served yet but the ethics imposed upon him by his faith demands that he should not keep in ignorance the public by being silent on the issue and should clarify all of the facts, pertaining to this lawsuit, of which he is aware.

“…I will host a Summit on Entrepreneurship this year to identify how we can deepen ties between business leaders, foundations and social entrepreneurs in the United States and Muslim communities around the world…”

If anyone would wish to know the exact form that President Barack Obama’s policy will take at the end of his regime, the preview is crystal clearly cast against his June 4, 2009 speech at Cairo.

Four Kenyans will be among those attending President Obama’s entrepreneurial summit set for between April 26 and 27 this year.

They include Mr Yusuf Keshavjee, Ms Rehema Jaldesa, Mr Salim Amin and Ms Nuria Farah.

The four were selected based on their innovative ideas and ability to promote entrepreneurship, their commitment to community service, and gender, geographic and urban/rural diversity.

As part of his effort to improve US relations with Muslims in East Africa and throughout the world, President Barack Obama is hosting an entrepreneurship summit this week designed to encourage grassroots economic development that can lead to political reforms.

Four Kenyans are among more than 200 mostly Muslim delegates from 50 countries invited to the event taking place in Washington on Monday and Tuesday.

Mr Obama is expected to address the summit which, organisers say, will focus on topics such as "fostering a culture of entrepreneurship" and promoting innovation.

In this ancient fortress city in northern Syria, one of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited settlements, an ambitious restoration project is near completion in the Old City. Bloomberg is reporting that a master plan for development has been laid out for the next 15 years.

The most spectacular renewal is the Citadel castle: Workers cleared its deep moat, cleaned its formidable walls and removed tons of rubble. The work is backed by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, whose goal is to revitalize run-down communities and monuments.

THE Serena Group has set up a second hotel in the country, the Lake Victoria Serena Resort. The resort, which is part of the Aga Khan economic empire, lies on an expansive piece of land measuring 275 acres on the shores of Lake Victoria.

The land belonged to the Ranch on the Lake Hotel until about four years ago when Serena Group bought it and built a new hotel. The facility has so far cost $20m (about sh40b).

Another $30m (sh60b) is earmarked to complete the construction.

President Yoweri Museveni yesterday presided over the official opening.

NEW DELHI -- Today, the U.S. Ambassador to India Timothy J. Roemer awarded certificates to 100 new microscholarship recipients in the English Access Microscholarship Program at the MCD Primary School, Nizamuddin Basti. This two-year Access program is an initiative of the U.S. Embassy in cooperation with the Aga Khan Foundation which has been working in India for over 15 years on improving schools and educational opportunities for poor and marginalized groups.

New Delhi, Apr 14 : The US Ambassador to India Timothy J Roemer today awarded English Microscholarship certificates to 100 students of an MCD primary school in Nizamuddin Basti providing them future educational opportunities and exchange programmes in the US.

The two-year Access programme is an initiative of the US Embassy in cooperation with the Aga Khan Foundation which has been working in India for over 15 years on improving schools and educational opportunities for poor and marginalised groups.

Marginalized group of 100 students received Microscholarship at the MCD Primary School in New Delhi. The award was given by US Ambassador to India Timothy J. Roemer under the English Access Microschoralship Programme. The two-year programme is an initiative of the U.S. Embassy in cooperation with the Aga Khan Foundation. The Foundation began implementing the English Access Microscholarship Programme in 2010 for 100 students residing in the Nizamuddin Basti. Students of 14-18-year olds are eligible under the scheme.

April 16 (Bloomberg) -- It’s hard to know which of history’s episodes was worse for Aleppo, an ancient fortress city in Syria’s north. Perhaps it was in the year 1400, when Tamerlane, the invading Mongol-Turkic chieftain, piled thousands of skulls at the town gates to persuade inhabitants to give up.

Or maybe the earthquake of 1136 that killed tens of thousands of inhabitants, or the massacre of Muslims by more Mongol invaders in 1260 or the 19th-century assaults by cholera and plague.

Maputo – Serena Tourism Promotion Services (a subsidiary of the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development) is pleased to announce that the Polana Serena Hotel will undergo extensive refurbishment and expansion to the tune of $25million from January 2009.

Embedded within the walls of a 19th-century mansion in an ancient harbour town on the east African island of Zanzibar are bricks bearing an unlikely stamp: “Made in Glasgow.” The bricks – once ballast in an empty ship returning from a trading voyage – reveal the long-standing global connections of the world’s great Islamic cities, many of which have fallen into disrepair.

An agreement providing for the restructuring and expansion of the activities of the Diamond Trust of Kenya Limited (DTK) into the field of merchant banking was signed on 30 July, 1982 at Aiglemont, the Aga Khan's Secretariat near Paris, by DTK, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Samuel Montagu and Co. Limited.

His Highness the Aga Khan, who has had a long and close association with the company, was present at the signing ceremony attended by His Excellency Mr. John Kimani, Kenya's Ambassador to France.

Your Excellency the President, Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen

It gives me profound pleasure to be in Versova again to open the housing project which I inaugurated here almost exactly five years ago and to be performing the ceremony in the presence of such distinguished guests.

The Trustees of the Muniwarabad Charitable Trust and I are most happy and honoured to have His Excellency the President with us this morning. It is indeed a privilege and a very great encouragement to have him here.