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

When people of a distinctive faith or culture feel economically powerless or inherit clear injustice from which they cannot escape, or find their traditions and values engulfed culturally, and their societies maligned as bleak and unjust ...they risk becoming the victims of those who would gain power by perverting an open, fluid, pluralistic tradition of thought and belief into something closed and insular.'
'It would be wrong to see this as the future of the Ummah.'

The Aga Khan Trust for Culture has restored the prime historic landmark of the 700 year old Baltit Fort on the terraced slopes in Hunza, in Northern Pakistan. The main theme of the project is to preserve this setting despite natural decay and the inevitable impact of recent changes, such as urbanisation which has begun to threaten the integrity of the built heritage. The Fort is now a museum and cultural centre.

THE MURMUR of young students reciting the Qur'an wafts through the hallways of this remote village school. It's a familiar sound in the crumbling classrooms of rural Pakistan, where students often memorize Islam's holy book without learning its lessons.
But in this isolated mountain valley, three days' drive from Islamabad, students at the Aga Khan Girls' School live in a different world.

Instead of mud brick walls and dirt floors, they sit in a spotless science laboratory. And along with their headscarves, they wear lab coats.

Aga Khan Cultural Services (Afghanistan), a newly established affiliate of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC), will lead the revitalisation of a significant but currently degraded urban area in central Kabul around the historic Timur Shah Mausoleum.Under an agreement signed in Kabul on Tuesday with the Government of Afghanistan and the Municipality of Kabul, the AKTC will help provide area planning, conduct physical and social surveys, mobilize technical and financial support and undertake conservation work on the historic urban fabric of the City of Kabul in District 1, as well as landscap

Philanthropists donate Rs20m for oncology facilityKARACHI, Feb 2: The Aga Khan University took a big step towards realizing its dream of setting up a well-equipped oncology services facility when it managed to raise Rs20 million at a dinner on Saturday night , bringing the total amount collected from philanthropists to Rs220 million.
The facility is expected to cost Rs456 million, about Rs216 million of which will be given by the university. This means that only about Rs20 million remains to be raised which, according to the university administration, will be raised soon.

The European Commission will provide Euro 20 million (equivalent to Rs1.28 billion) to the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) as grant for implementation of its programme to increase women's access to education in the Northern Areas and Chitral.
A contract to this effect was signed between the ambassador and head of the European Commission delegation in Pakistan, Ilkka Uusitalo, and AKF Chairman Kamal Chinoy at the education ministry on Tuesday. Minister for Education Zobaida Jalal was also present.

President Gen Pervez Musharraf, Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali and Pakistan People's Party Chairperson Benazir Bhutto have condoled the death of Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan.In his condolence message to Prince Karim Aga Khan, the spiritual leader of the Ismaili community, on Wednesday, President Musharraf said Sadruddin Aga Khan was a great friend of Pakistan. 'May Allah Almighty rest his soul in peace and grant your highness and the bereaved family the patience to bear this great loss,' he said.

President Gen Pervez Musharraf on Saturday launched three major projects for Karachi which will be completed within two years at a cost of over Rs443 million.

Hunza has once again achieved Unesco's Asia-Pacific Heritage Award for Culture Heritage Conservation, a statement issued here on Monday said.The award of distinction for the year 2002 has been given to Ganish, a small settlement in central Hunza in the Northern Areas, for preserving four historical mosques.
In all, 142 entries from 37 Asia-Pacific countries competed for the Award, bringing to world attention the high quality of conservation work being done around the region.

President Gen Pervez Musharraf will inaugurate here on March 11 the establishment of another Micro Finance Bank to offer small loans to the needy.
The bank is a joint venture between the Aga Khan Foundation and the International Finance Corporation, a subsidiary of the World Bank.
According to official sources, the bank will have a Rs500 million paid-up capital, which will be increased gradually.
The government had set up last year the Micro Finance Bank, now named Khushhali Bank, with an initial capital of Rs1 billion. The president will also be the chief guest at the launch of Serena hotel.

Benazir Bhutto, the Pakistan People’s Party chairperson, has said that Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan will be mourned not only by his family, friends and the Ismaili community but also by “the larger world where he was well known and respected”.

In her condolence letter to the late prince’s widow, Ms Bhutto wrote: “So many will mourn the passing of a sensitive man of enormous intelligence, understanding and compassion. I will mourn him for all those reasons. I will mourn him too as a good friend of my family over many decades.” —Staff Report

See attached audio

This speech was delivered at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Hyderabad by H.R.H. The Agakhan in December, 1964.

I am grateful and honoured by your kind invitation to me to-night, and I am sincerely thankful to you for having given me this occasion to meet the industrial and business elite of this historical and beautiful city.

His Royal Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan inaugurated the Urdu University at Karachi. 80 years old, Dr. Molvi Abdul Haq in his address of welcome recalled the historic occasion which happened 64 years ago at Aligarh when Sir Sayyed Ahmed Khan who was as old as he himself, presented an address of welcome to His late Royal Highness Sir Sultan Muhammed Shah Aga Khan III, who was as young as the present Aga Khan.

In his address, His Royal Highness said:

To the Chairman & Members of the Students Union.

"I should congratulate them most heartily on the occasion of the foundation stone laying ceremony of their new Reading Room. I feel that by having this Reading Room and in this particular locality so close to our Jamatkhana, to our secondary school and to our maternity home, we could not have a better institution in a more appropriate place.

I shall begin by saying how well I am aware of your needs and necessities in this particular school. I do feel that if we are going to proceed on a fairly large scale of development in the future in our education institutions, we must proceed according to certain plans and standards, and for this reason I will probably advise the City Education Board, not to proceed with any development of this building until we know the result of the negotiations which are taking place at this moment.

It is a very happy occasion to open this hospital today and I hope that it will continue to serve My community and other Pakistani residents in this area as it had been doing in the past. I take this occasion to add a point of extreme importance. Dr. Alidina kindly mentioned the hospital in Nairobi and those of you who have been to Nairobi and have seen the institution there know that we have not taken into account expenses in terms of opening first class service.

Mr Chairman, Mr Commissioner, Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen

First let me say how honoured I feel by the reception you have given me this afternoon. I have been most moved by the kindness of your remarks today and by the warmth of this city's welcome to myself and my family throughout our stay in Karachi.

The city of Karachi, as you have observed, has some very special and very beloved associations for me. It has given me the greatest pleasure, therefore, to find the remarkable developments which have taken place since I was here in 1954.

Mr Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen

I would like to begin by expressing my very real appreciation of the honour you have shown me by inviting me to address you here this afternoon.

Mr Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen

I thank you for your kindness in inviting me to this function tonight and giving me an opportunity to meet the representatives of an important section of the business and industrial community of Karachi.

You have referred to the advice I gave on another occasion to the members of my own community to assist in the building of this country.