150th Anniversary of Karachi Grammar School (1 847-1997) (1997-16)

Flourishing institutions are undoubtedly intrinsic to a country\'s development. Karachi Grammar School is one such institution that has proved it dedication to the system of education in Pakistan through innumerable contributions.
Today, 150 years from its inception, it is a reality whose repute and prestige has spread from the borders of Pakistan onto other continents. Its students continue to keep its name alive in foreign universities across the hemispheres. If the success of an institution can be measured by the success of its students in varied walks of life, the Karachi Grammar School has certainly a lot to be proud of.
The Karachi Grammar School started in a class for the education of English and Anglo-Indian children, which was opened in 1847 by the Rev. H. Brereton, the first Chaplain of Karachi after the British occupation in Sindh in 1843.
Little could Mr. Brereton have imagined when he started this class, that it would develop into a fine school which at present exists. The first class in 1847 was conducted in the Chaplain\'s home, and in those days the Chaplain resided on the plot which is now occupied by the Methodist Church. This class soon developed into a small school, and when the church bungalow was erected in 1852, the school was held there.
This Bungalow is described in a letter of Sir Bartle Frere to the Right Honorable Lord Elphinstone, Governor of Bombay, as a \"kind of \'pandal\' erected for public worship in Karachi by subscriptions and aided by a grant from the Government.\"
From a modest beginning as a one class school to a sprawling edifice at Saddar and a new building in Clifton, Boating Basin area, The Karachi Grammar School has come a long way.
Through its life, it has witnessed the changing trends in socio-environment, the rise and fall of respective governments, the emergence of various institutions and so on. Well-versed in the art of change, the Karachi Grammar School has never compromised on the quality of its education and set of values that it indoctrinates its recipients with.
A thorough, well trained staff supervises the student body and ensures the most fruitful results. From the beginning, an independent outlook is established in a students academic development. Innovative ideas are encouraged so that the student can learn to think for himself. Abroad, Grammarians are recognised as hardworking individuals who bring with them, a freshness of perspectives and ideas and contribute to the fabric of cross-cultural interaction.
While quality of results and exceptional academic standing remain the ideal of the Grammar School, there is an increasing emphasis on extracurricular activities over the years. In the early years, although various school events did exist, those precluded the concept of student-organised events, except for a few Societies that functioned sporadically. In the eighties, came a new realisation. To gain admission in the most prestigious colleges of America, one needed not only excellent academic results but a record of involvement in as wide a range of extracurricular activities possible. This resulted in the growth of an incredible number of societies and a constant stream of events.
Which both enlivened and informed. Apart from the Grammarian, published every year, other magazines include Pulse and Flyers that are taken out regularly and with great enthusiasm.
Theatrical ventures continue to be an enduring art form with growing student participation. The emphasis on sports has and always will be an invaluable key aspect of extracurricular activities. The confidence to compete constructively amidst erstwhile companions engenders a positive drive that shows expression at some point or the other in a students later life, be it professional, social or political.
Each successive decade of the Karachi Grammar School has seen development in some area or the other. The list of achievements would be incomplete without the mention of the new Primary school at Clifton, Boating Basin area.
A number of years ago, it was recognised that the school\'s present facilities would be inadequate to cope with the pace of educational innovation, not to mention the growing demand for admission from parents for their children. The improved facilities while enhancing the quality of educational provision to the existing students would enable the students to admit a significantly higher number of pupils and also reduce classes to optimal size.
In order to meet the above concerns, the new Primary School, which comprises of the Kindergarten and Junior sections of the Karachi Grammar School, stands as a resolute testimony to the fact that ideas if followed through can result in the completion of dreams.
150 years - Approximately 13 decades from that first class held in Rev. Brereton\'s residence, the Karachi Grammar School has evolved into one to the finest institutions in the country.
Against a backdrop of a nascent democracy, there still remains much to be accomplished. In the true spirit of the Karachi Grammar School, the outlook is optimistic. The remaining nineties and the start of the year 2000 will see a new beginning to an already flourishing institution.
Contributed by: (Old Grammarians Society)
To commemorate the 1 S0the Anniversary of Karachi Grammar School Pakistan Post Office is issuing a commemorative postage stamp of Rs. 2/-denomination on December 30, 1997

International Day of The Disabled - Asian Pacific Decade of The Disabled 1993-2002. (1997-15)

There are persons with disabilities in all parts of the world and at all levels in every society. There is a large and growing number of persons with disabilities in the world today. The estimated figure of more than 500 million is confirmed from various sources including experienced investigators.
Recognizing the state of the disabled all over the world the UN declared year ~81 as the International year of the disabled to focus international attention on the situation of its disabled communities and their needs. During this year it was realised that the prevailing conditions of the disabled, globally and especially in the developing countries, had assumed such an alarming enormity that urgent and continuous measures were required to deal with it.
The most important outcome of the International Year of Disabled Persons 1981, was the World Programme of Action concerning Disabled Persons, adopted by the General Assembly by its resolution 37/52 and 37/53 of 3 December 1982 on the implementation of the World Programme of Action, in which, inter alia, it proclaimed the period 1983-1992 as the United Nations Decade of disabled Persons. They both emphasized the right of persons, with disabilities to the same opportunities as other citizens and to an equal share in the improvements, in living conditions, resulting from economic and social development.
The Problems of disability in the developing countries were specially highlighted in The World Programme for Action due to the fact that 80% of the disabled persons live in isolated rural areas. In some countries like Pakistan the percentage of the disabled population is as high as 20 and if families are also included 50 percent of the population could be adversely affected by disabilities. The problem is compounded by the fact that disabled people are often very poor. They live in areas where medical and other related services are scarce or even totally absent, and where the disability is not and cannot be detected in time. When they do receive medical attention, if at all the impairment may have become irreversible.
The resources aren\'t sufficient to detect or prevent disability. The problem is further compounded due the population explosion.
At the end of the decade meeting of the experts to review and appraise the achievements of the United Nations Decade of Disabled Persons recognized that, though there had been considerable progress in the achievements of its goals in developed countries, the progress had been for a second decade to fulfil the goals of the previous decade.
UN was urged by the Asia Pacific region to declare another decade to give fresh impetus to the implementation of the World programme of action concerning disabled persons.
The Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP~), at its forty-eighth session, held at Beijing, proclaimed, through its resolution the period \'93 - 2002 as the Asia and Pacific Decade of Disabled persons.
Thirty three governments of the Asia pacific region including Pakistan had co-sponsored this resolution at the 48th session of ECOSOC held at Beijing.
At the 49th session of ECOSOC held at Beijing in April \'93 this resolution was adopted, proclaiming 1993 - 2002 as the Asia Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons Along with the Agenda for Action for the Decade.
The Strategy has the ultimate aim of improving the quality of life of all the people of the region. Within the strategy priority has been assigned to the regions disadvantaged and vulnerable social groups, including persons with disabilities.
The framework of the Agenda contains major policy categories requiring efforts for their implementation, some of which are:-
Legislation:
Information
Public awareness
Accessibility and communication;
Education
Training and employment
Prevention of causes of disabilities
Rehabilitation Services:
Assistive devices;
Formation of self help organization
Regional co-operation:
The agenda has been widely circulated for implementation to:
Government Ministries and Departments:
Non-government organizations;
International organizations;, including United Nations agencies and bodies:
Individuals committed to the full participation and equality of people with disabilities in the Asian and pacific region.
3rd December was declared the International Day of the Disabled by UN at the end of decade in \'93 to continue the efforts for the achievement of the goals of equality and full participation as envisaged with World Programme of Action. On this day the people with disability, the world over, focus the attention of the government and communities in which they live to awaken their conscience to fulfil their commitments to the cause of the disabled.
This year, this day coincides with the mid point of the Asia Pacific decade of Disabled 1993- 2002. This is an important land mark for the governments, the communities and the disabled themselves to assess the achievements of this period.
As an advocacy organization for the rights of the disabled we, in the Disabled Peoples International Pakistan and the Karachi Sindh Chapter, are strongly committed to the goals of the World Programme of Action concerning Disabled Persons and the Agenda for Action for Disabled in the Asia Pacific region. Our request for issuance of stamps, to commemorate these two very important days, is a part of the awareness-raising campaigns, which we are continuously engaged in to ensure equalization of opportunities for peoples with disability through legislation and all such measure required for removal of barriers-physical and attitudinal-which impede their participation in the communities in which they live.
(Contributed by Courtesy)
To commemorate the United Nation\'s International Day of the Disabled and the Asia Pacific Decade of Disabled 1993-2002 Pakistan Post office is issuing a Commemorative postage stamp of Rs. 4/-denomination on December 3,1997.

Pakistan Motorway Project - Lahore - Islamabad (M-2) Section. (1997-14)

BACKGROUND
Pakistan Motorway Project was originally conceived by Mr. Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, Prime Minister of Pakistan, to provide a countrywide link of limited access high speed highway to bring most parts of the country together which could result in greater economic growth, commercial activity and trade with ECO countries. It was envisaged that such a system of modern roads would enable Pakistan to step into the 21St century equipped with a first rate communication system.
Pakistan Motorway Project will ultimately provide north-south link in the country joining Karachi with Torkham via Hub, Durji, Kakkar, Rato Dero, Khand Kot, Rajanpur, Dera Ghazi Khan, Multan, Faisalabad, Pindi Bhattian and extending upto Torkham via Lahore, Islamabad and Peshawar. It will also join with another highway passing through Khuzdar and terminating at Gwadar thereby establishing a vital link for Baluchistan with the rest of the country.
Conforming to the international standards (like the Autobahn in Germany and Motorways in UK), it will be a six lane divided, limited access highway. It will provide a completely uninterrupted flow of traffic allowing access and exit only at designated interchanges.
With this plan in his mind the Prime Minister initiated and gave the go ahead for construction of the first section of the Motorway which joins Lahore with Islamabad providing major link to many remote areas. Being strategically located, it offers an excellent line of fast communications in national emergencies and natural calamities.
The first portion of Pakistan Motorway known as Lahore-Islamabad Motorway (M-2) is now being opened. This six lane facility takes off from Lahore near Faizpur and passing through the districts of Lahore, Sheikhupura, Gujranwala, Sargodha, Jhelum, Chakwal, Attock and Rawalpindi terminates at Village Nasralla near Coca Cola factory.
AWARD OF CONTRACT
An agreement for the design and subsequent construction of a four lane limited access tolled Motorway between Lahore and Islamabad at the contract value of Rs. 23.467 billion, was initially -signed in December1991 with M/s Daewoo Corporation of Korea. M/s. Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation (SMEC) of Australia were appointed Consultants for reviewing the design and supervising the construction work of the Project.
Construction of the six-lane Motorway started in April 1992 but in 1993, the caretaker government decided to reduce the number of lanes to the original four allowing all the structures of the original six lane project.
In 1995, M/s Daewoo submitted a proposal to construct the six lane Motorway by providing an additional US$ 340 million loan on the same terms and conditions as of the original loan.
According to the revised plan M/s Daewoo is responsible for the construction of the six lane Motorway along with link roads on Lahore and Islamabad ends of the Motorway together with a median barrier and security fencing.
SCOPE OF WORK
Designed speed in plain areas is 120 Kms per hour but it reduces to 100 Km per hour in rolling terrain, and 50 Km per hour in salt range area. This is because of the gradient change in the Salt Range Area where the Motorway climbs from an altitude of 200 meters to 750 meters while traversing a distance of only 15 Km. The Project has 106 bridges including 5 major river bridges at Lahore, Soan, Panead, Chenab and Jhelum rivers, 90 Box Culverts and 937 pipe culverts.
The Project has 10 Service areas, 5 on each side and provision of landscaping comprising plantation of trees and shrubs throughout the project. The Motorway will be tolled through closed system. Similarly to avert the plying of over-loaded vehicles, a series of weigh stations are being installed on various location for controlling over-loading on Highways and Motorway.
LAHORE - ISLAMABAD MOTORWAY (M-2)
SALIENT FEATURES
a. Lahore-Islamabad, 6 lane; 333 Km
b. Lahore- bypass, 6 lane; 17 Km
c. Lahore-link road, 4 lane; 7.5 Km
d. Islamabad link road, 4 lane; 8.5 Km
e. Flyovers; 36 Nos
f. Toll Plazas; 18 Nos
g. Interchanges; 11 Nos
10 service areas are being provided at Sukhake, Sial More, Bhera, Kallar Kahar and Chakri on either side of the Motorway at an average distance of 66 Km.
Each service area will have a mosque, restaurants, police kiosk, petrol pump, service station/ workshop, convenience/wash rooms, 4 bed first aid centre, pay phones, and general stores.
INTERCHANGES
Location Distance from zero point
1. N-S Kala Shah Kaku link Km 9
2. Sheikhupura km 29
3. Pindi Bhattian Km 102
4. Kot Momin Km 145
5. Salam Chowk Km 158
6. Lilla Km 196
7. Kallar Kahar Km 224
8. Balkasar Km 248
9. Chakri Km 299
10. End Point Km 333
11. N-S Kashmir Highway link Km 341
(Contributed by National Highway Authority)
To highlight the importance of the Pakistan Motorway, the Pakistan Post Office is issuing a special postage stamp and souvenir sheet of Rs. 7/- denomination each on November 26, 1997 on the occasion of the inauguration of Lahore-Islamabad Motorway (M-2) at Bajnial near Islamabad.

Tenth Anniversary Of The Montreal Protocol On Substances That Deplete The Ozone Layer Protect Our Earth-Save The Ozone Layer. (1997-13)

The thin layer of ozone in the stratosphere, located between 10 and 50 kilometers above the earth, absorbs all but a small fraction of the harmful ultraviolet radiation (UV-B) emanating from the sun and protects all life on earth.
In the early 1970\'s, scientists discovered that emissions of some chemicals could deplete the ozone in this layer. This would lead to more UV-B radiation to reach the Earth and to more skin cancers, eye cataracts, reduced plant and animal productivity, worse air quality and damage to plastics.
Observations of the atmosphere since then have proved depletion of ozone of about 5% per decade over middle and higher latitudes of earth and an \"Ozone hole\" annually over the Antarctic. Scientists have linked these to the increasing emissions of ozone-depleting substances (ODS). The most common of these are the Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) used in refrigeration, air-conditioning, fire-fighting, metal cleaning, foams etc.
Alarmed by these discoveries, the United Nations Environment Programme initiated scientific assessments in 1976 and, as certainty grew, started inter governmental negotiations to take action to protect the Ozone Layer. As a result, the governments of the world first agreed upon the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer in 1985 and on the Montreal Protocol on substances that deplete the Ozone Layer in 1987. The Convention laid down a general commitment to protect the Ozone Layer. The Protocol, which was strengthened thrice subsequently, mandates the phase out of the ODS according to a specified timetable by all countries. The developing countries are given a grace period. The industrialized countries agreed to meet the incremental costs of developing countries and to promote the transfer of the alternative substances and technologies.
1997 is the tenth year of the Protocol. The Protocol has succeeded brilliantly so far. The industrialized countries have almost phased out their consumption, of about a million tones, of many of the ODS by the end of 1995. The Multilateral Fund, established in 1991, has already disbursed more than US$ 500 million to developing countries and has an allocation of $540 million for 1997-99. The developing countries have so far taken up projects to phase out more than a third of their consumption, ahead of the year 1999, when their grace period ends. Atmospheric measurements by scientists have noticed the reduction in the abundance of the ODS. They predict beginning of the recovery of the Ozone Layer in a few years and a full recovery by the middle of the 21st century, if the implementation of the Protocol continues vigorously. The history of the Montreal Protocol has been an inspiring saga of international cooperation between the Governments, scientists, technologists, industry, and non-governmental organizations under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Programme. It is a shining example for solving international environmental problems.
(Source: United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi, Kenya)
To commemorate the tenth anniversary of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that deplete the ozone layer, Protect-our Earth-save the ozone layer, Pakistan Post Office is issuing a commemorative postage stamp of Rs. 3/- denomination on November 15, 1997.

Wildlife (Series) Himalyan Or Monal Pheasant - (Lophophorus Impejanus) (1997-12)

The monals occupy an isolated position among the pheasants. Himalayan pheasant usually lives at an altitude of above 6,000 feet and up to the limits of 13,000-45,000 feet high on trees in open coniferous forests of Himalayas occurring in Chitral, Dir, Swat, Indus Kohistan, Hazara district, Azad Kashmir and Gilgit.
In all these regions it is thinly distributed due to constant persecution by local hunters. The gorgeous male is highly prized for its plumage and the crest is used as a cap badge in the northern regions giving the wearer some social status.
The male has a tuft of long racket shaped feathers on the middle of the crown, brilliant metallic green, chin and throat black, sometimes glossed with green, underparts are velvety black. From lower side of neck a line of shining metallic green extending backward to the mantle and breast. Tail feathers are uniformly rufous and darker towards tips. The bill is strongly down curved and powerful.
The female is slightly smaller and totally different in colouration. She has a short bushy crest on the nape and an area of bright blue naked skin around the eyes. Her chestnut tail is tipped white with darker brown cross bars and the whole of the rest of the body is rufous brown, finely barred with darker brown except for a white throat area. In both sexes the iris is brown and the legs are olive brown with a blunt spur on the tarsus in males.
They are gregarious keep singly or in parties of 3 or 4. They usually spend a lot of their time in digging the ground with their powerful bill. They are able to dig in quite deep snow and do not descend in winter below the snow line, being very hardy birds. They are always alert and cautious, running swiftly over the precipitous if they sense danger.
They feed on grass, flowers, seeds, roots, tubers, shoots, berries, insects and their larvae, dug up often from under deep snow. They make nests in April to June as a scrape in the ground under shelter of rock, lay 4-6 pale yellowish or reddish eggs. Incubation period is about 28 days chicks remain hiding while the hen keeps up loud whistling alarm calls for a period of 4 or 5 minutes. The Jungle crow is a serious predator of eggs.
(Contributed by: Conservator of Wildlife Karachi)
To focus world attention on the need to protect and preserve this vulnerable wildlife species, Pakistan Post Office, is issuing a special postage stamp of Rs. 2/- denomination depicting photo of Monal Pheasant on October 29, 1997. It is part of the series on wildlife stamps being issued by Pakistan Post Office since 1975.

Medicinal Plants Of Pakistan: Allium Sativum Linn-Lahsan/Garlic. (1997-11)

Pakistan is endowed with a great wealth of medicinal plants. This is a natural botanical source of medicines being manufactured by indigenous pharmaceutical house in Pakistan.
These Plants are also the basic source of modern pharmaceutical market, although to day it has become an entire medical world of synthetic, with elevated price a common man can hardly afford. It is therefore, the most appropriate time to consider development and organization of our medicinal plants industry to become independent in the provision of common indigenous natural drugs that are being used to treat diseases in most of our rural areas.
In our country these plants generally grow wild but medicinal plants species are also cultivated which possess great potentialities, not only in the light of their use from centuries in the sub-continent in Greco-Arab (Unani or Eastern) system of medicine but also in the light of active principles or biodynamic compounds being isolated from them using ultra modern screening techniques available in the country.
ALLIUM SATIVUM LINN-LAHSAN/GARLIC.
It belongs to the family liliaceae and is a hardy perennial plants, about 60 cm in height, native to Central Asia-cultivated all over the world. Basically, the bulbs are common condiment used in several house hold preparations. History reveals its use in ancient Indian, Greek and Roman civilizations and is used in \' Unani medicine\" as an expectorant, stimulant, vermifuge, tonic, disinfectant, vasodilating hypotensive, anti-diabetic, antiseptic, carminative and nutritive.
(Contributed by: Hamdard University)
To focus the importance of natural botanical source of medicines Pakistan Post Office is issuing a special postage stamp of Rs. 2/- denomination on October 22,1997.

75th Anniversary Of Lahore College For Women. (1997-10)

Lahore College for Women, Lahore is celebrating its platinum Jubilee this year spread over an area of 287,500 square feet with 5000 students and 262 staff members the institution is headed presently by Prof. Dr. (Mrs.) Bushra Mateen B.Sc. (Hon) M.Sc. Chem. (Pb) Ph.D. (London) F.R.C.S. Chartered Chemist.
This Premier Postgraduate female institution in Punjab was established in May 1922 by the Government to provide higher education to Women. It was affiliated to the University of Punjab at under graduate level in 18 subjects in 1922, for graduate classes in 14 subjects in 1925, for post-graduate classes in English in 1940 and for Honours classes in five subjects in 1949.
Originally this college was situated in a building on Hall Road with a hostel. There were separate Kitchens for Hindu and Muslim students. In the beginning there were 60 students 25 of whom were boarders and 13 staff members. College benefited from the services of qualified male teachers due to the shortage of female teachers. Miss G. Harrison was the first principal of Lahore College for Women, Lahore and Mrs. E.B. Heer was the first warden of its hostel.
In 1951 the college was shifted to the present building which was originally a school Smatam Dharam School. At that time the number of students was only 600. The number of students and staff members increased over the decades and today there are about 5,000 students 262 members of teaching staff and 145 members of non-teaching staff. Number of faculties at Inter level is 27, at graduate level 29 and post-graduate level 10.
In 1951 the college consisted of (1) Academic Block 2) Old Hostel Building, 3) Principal Residence and 6 Staff quarters. These buildings were insufficient to meet the growing number of students. However land was available and a new Science Block, two Hostels for under-graduate and post-graduate students, Main staff room and professors rooms, Statistics and Mathematics Departments and Auditorium, were added over the last 56 years.
Still college has about 32 Kanals of land and a multi-storey Post graduate Block has been designed to start Masters classes in at least 1 C more subjects according to the need of the hours to meet the challenges of 21st century.
At present Lahore College for Women, Lahore is aspiring to develop itself into a centre of Excellence and higher seat of learning with degree awarding status. Lahore College for Women, Lahore is lucky enough to benefit from the sincere services of Principals like Mrs. Gerry Harrison, Mrs. Durrani, Miss Henry Lal, Dr. Miss Ali Mohammad, Dr. Kanzeen Yousaf, Dr. Mrs. Razia Noor Mohammad, Dr. Miss lqbal Dar, Mrs. M. B. Hassan and presently Dr Mrs. Bushra Mateen whose dexterity in handling both administrative and academic affairs of the college is highly commendable over the last 7~ years, all these ladies not only contributed in showing excellent academic results but also initiated golden traditions of regularly conducting co- curricular activities/sports and maintaining the excellent standards o character-building and discipline in the college on the Lines of the motto of the college which is.
\"Discipline ensures success\"
College colour is green. Students wear uniform (white dress in Summer and white dress with black jersey and green blazer in winter) college magazine \"KIRAN\" quenches the literary thirst of student Lahore College for Women, Lahore is the only female institution in Punjab which was granted the autonomous status in financial and administrative matters on 1st August, 1990 PLCOSA (Pakistan Lahore College Old Students Association) known as L.C.A. as well has been registered a NGO with the Social Work Department Govt. of the Punjab and is working regularly for the development of the college. Recently Lahore College for Women administration with the collaboration of L.C.A. succeeded ir establishing a full-fledged computer centre in the premises of the college with the help of Ministry of Women Division and Youth Affairs, Islamabad, This Centre has started functioning from December, 1996 with the collaboration of physics and Mathematics Departments of the college.
The fact that the old students of Lahore College have occupied the key posts in the past as well as at present makes it a prestigious institution, In the pre-partition period, this female institution contributed in creating awareness and political consciousness among women folk and at present the students of the college are serving for the national cause in the field of education (principals of all college in Lahore and many other cities are old students of Lahore College) health, banking and other economic and social sector.
(Contributed by Lahore College for Women)
To commemorate the 75th Anniversary of Lahore College for Women, Pakistan Post Office is issuing a commemorative postage stamp of Rs. 3/- denomination on September 23, 1997.

Pioneers of Freedom (Series) (1997-9)

MOHAMMAD AYUB KHUHRO 1901-1980
Mohammad Ayub Khuhro was one of the foremost leaders of the struggle for independence from British colonial rule and for the achievement of Pakistan. He was closely associated with the Quaid-e-Azam from 1928 onwards and was member of the Working Committee of All India Muslim League in the crucial years of 1942-1947.
Mohammad Ayub Khuhro was born on 14 August1901 in village Aqil in Larkana district of Sindh. He belonged to a landowning family. He went to the village school and then enrolled in Larkana Madressah. Here he became aware of the problems being faced by the poor Muslim agriculturists whose lands were being forcibly attached in settlement of inflated debts.
Khuhro felt deeply concerned and was determined to do something about the problem when he got the chance. From Larkana Madressah Khuhro went to Karachi to complete his education at the famous Sind Madressah-tul-Islam in Karachi and them to D.J. Arts college.
In 1920 he had to return home and look after the family affairs in Larkana when his father died. Here he soon entered politics by being elected to the District Local Board and then in 1923 was elected Member of the Bombay Legislative Council as Sindh had representation as it was part of the Bombay Presidency.
Here Khuhro took up the issues which were affecting the Muslims of Sindh such as backwardness in education, discrimination in the matter of jobs and services, as Muslims who were 75% of the population had negligible representation.
He also took up the cause of the Sindhi agriculturists who were suffering from indebtedness and losing their lands at a fast rate to Hindu moneylenders. He tried to get Land Alicnation and Debt Reconciliation Acts, which had helped the position of agriculturists in the Punjab. Also legislated for Sindh.
This proposal met with a great deal of opposition from money lender interests and from the bureaucracy. It would take many years and a great deal of hard work from Khuhro to get through legislation for the backward Muslim cultivators of Sindh.
Khuhro championed the Muslims during the Hindu Muslim riots of the late twenties and confronted the administration of the Commissioner-in-Sind. the absolute ruler of the province.
In the course of getting redress for the people. He decided that the only solution for the people of Sindh was to get their own administration and representative assembly. In 1928-29 when the Royal Statutory Commission on Indian Reforms (the Simon Commission) came to India to examine the constitutional position. Khuhro led a delegation to argue for the cause of establishing the separate autonomous province of Sindh.
The Simon Commission decided against the separation of Sindh from Bombay on financial grounds but Khuhro persisted. He made himself an expert on the financial aspects of the problem and worked on the financial enquiry committees and administrative committees set up to decide the feasibility of autonomy for Sindh.
In 1933 he went to London to give evidence in favour of separation to the Joint Parliamentary Committee set up to examine the question. He made a good case and the formation of the autonomous province of Sindh was announced in the Government of India Act of 1935. With the separation of Sindh from Bombay the cornerstone of Pakistan was well and truly laid.
Khuhro was one of the leaders who invited Mohammad Au Jinnah to preside over the 1938 session of the Sind Muslim League which not only established the party in Sindh but through its Resolution No. 5 paved the way for Pakistan.
Khuhro organised the only public meeting held in the interior of Sindh that was held during the tour of this province by Quaid-e-Azam and this was in Tajar Bagh. Larkana. It was a great success in spite of the ban on Muslim League public meetings by the Congress backed government of the province. Khuhro played a leading role in the organisation of Muslim League in Sindh and in the famous Masjid Manzil gah agitation which made Muslim League the champion of Muslim rights in Sindh. In March 1940 Khuhro was present on the stage at Lahore when the Pakistan Resolution was passed .
In 1942 Khuhro stood aside from his claim to be Premier of Sindh and agreed to be ordinary Minister so that Muslim League should be able to form a government in Sindh. This Muslim League Ministry was to last till independence in August 1947.
Khuhro worked tirelessly for Muslim League and for Pakistan and was the driving force behind the Muslim League victory in the Sindh Assembly elections of 1946 which enabled the Assembly to vote for Pakistan.
Khuhro became the first Premier of Sindh after independence. He was also responsible for the preparation of Karachi to become the first capital of Pakistan. He built the accommodation for the secretariat and found homes for the entire paraphernalia of Pakistan in the tiny capital of Sindh. Which had no more than 5 lakhs of people at this time.
After independence Khuhro stood for the federal principle and for the autonomy of the provinces. He suffered a get deal at the hands of autocrats and dictators who gained power in the country from time to time. He became Chief Minister of Sindh three times and Defence Minister of Pakistan in the last cabinet before the imposition of Martial Law in October 1958.
Khuhro worked for Miss Fatima Jinnah in the presidential elections of 1964. Known as the Iron man of Sindh\', he was not only an \'iron man fighting for the rights of the Muslims of Sindh but also and \'iron man\' in the cause of democracy.
Khuhro passed away on 20 October 1980 at the ripe old age of 79 at Karachi and was laid to rest in his ancestral village of Aqil.
BEGUM SALMA TASSADUQ HUSSAIN
Mohtarma Begum Salma Tassaduq Hussain was born in 1908 in District Gujranwala. She got her early education from her father Mian Fazal-e-Hussain a well known scholar of his times. She got married at the age of 16.
Till 1936 her life was purely that of a house-wife. It was them that the circumstances prevalent in the sub-continent forced her to start her career as a social worker in 1937.
Henceforth she worked under the guidance of the Quaid-e-Azam. She contested elections in 1946 and was elected as a member of the Punjab Assembly. These proved to be the most crucial elections which established that the Quaid-e-Azam represented the entire Muslim nation of the sub-continent. She was arrested in the course of the Civil Agitation during Unionist regime.
After the establishment of Pakistan the Quaid-e-Azam personally selected her as a member of the 1st Pakistan Delegation to the United Nations in 1947.
She acted as the Secretary of Punjab Muslim Women League from 1940-58. In 1946 she went to Bengal and Bihar during Communal riots and worked there for two months and visited the affected areas.
She remained Fellow of the University of Punjab from 1947-51, Member of Lahore Improvement Trust from 1949-51 and an Elected member of Lahore Municipal Corporation during 1949-56.
She was appointed Relief Secretary to the Provincial Muslim League Office in 1947 to receive the refugees coming from India to look after the wounded and the sick Muslim refugees and to arrange the burial of the dead bodies.
She visited Delhi is 1948 to participate in the deliberations of Council of State set up forthe recovery of abducted Muslim women from India. She then visited Delhi and Patiala and other parts of India for the recovery of muslim women and recovered nearly 9000 abducted muslim women and brought them back to Pakistan.
In 1952 she headed a delegation from Pakistan to Colombo Conference of the Non-Governmental Organizations organised by U.N.O.
In 1952 she also attended UNO session in Paris. In 1954 she was again elected to the Punjab Legislative Assembly and presented the first bill on Family Laws (Shariat Bill). In 1956 when One Unit came into existence she was again elected to the West Pakistan Assembly. She visited Peoples Republic of China as member of the High Powered Pakistan Parliamentary Delegation. In 1958 she was appointed as the Deputy Minister for Labour in the Government of Punjab and did a lot for amelioration of labourers in the Country. She was appointed as a member of the Majlis-e-Shoora during the Zia Regime.
She had the honour to work on 31 committees on different subjects in the Punjab and West Pakistan Legislative Assemblies including Abducted Women\'s Committee, Children Emergency Fund, Jail Reforms Committee, Qaumi Razakaar (Women Section) Lahore Improvement Trust, Lahore Municipal Corporation and the Cinema Censer Board for a number of years and Vice President of the Provincial Assembly of the All Pakistan Women Association (APWA).
She is the author of three books namely \'Azadi-ka-Safar, \"Gulhay-e-Rang\' (a collection of poems written by her) and Coleoptera which is an Urdu translation of an English naval.
She was awarded numerous gold medals and certificates by all the successive regimes in Pakistan since its creation, in recognition of her services and sacrifices made by her for the country and its people and shall always be remembered.
She remained active in social and educational activities for the rest of her life. She breathed her last on August 7,1995.
To commemorate the Pioneers of Freedom (Series) Pakistan Post Office is issuing a set of two commemorative postage stamps of Re. 1/- each denomination in August 14,1997.

Golden Jubilee of Pakistan (1947-1997) (1997-8)

Pakistan Movement is synonymous with the very spirit of Islam. The War of Independence in 1857 was an open manifestation of the Muslim spirit of revolt against the domination of the British Government and its stooges in India. Frustration and lack of direction, however, pervaded the rank of Muslims after the unfortunate failure in the war.
At this critical juncture emerged Sir Syed Ahmad Khan who served as a beacon light for the Muslim Nation in distress and disarray. He equated education with power and declared that the muslims could improve their political, social and economic condition only through the medium of modern and scientific education.
He cultivated the concept of a separate Muslim Nation on the basis of religion, culture and history. He inspired the muslims of the sub-continent to demand a separate homeland where they could arrange their lives and affairs of the State according to the dictates of Holy Quran and Sunnah.
After the establishment of the Indian National Congress in 1885, the Muslim leaders saw through the game of \"National\" movement and warned their people of the hovering dangers. In 1906, the Muslim League was founded as a challenge to the Indian National Congress. Maulana Hasrat Mohani presented a plan to the Government for the country envisaging two separate states for the Hindus and Muslims.
Chaudhary Rehmat Ali further developed this concept. He displayed great wisdom and foresight by putting forth not only a name but in large measure the scheme that culminated in the creation of Pakistan. Maulana Mohammed Au, Maulana Shaukat Au and Maulana Zafar Ali Khan spread the message of Pakistan through their lucid lectures and articles in newspapers.
The most outstanding contribution, however, came from Dr. Sir Mohammad Iqbal, the great philosopher and poet and the symbol of muslim nationalism. Pakistan ideology found ever clearer expression in his religio-philosophical, didactic and poetic works. At its base was the idea that spiritual unit founded on Islam was the most vital and integral element of national society. Islam emerges in this ideology as a form of National unity and absorbs all political thoughts. While presiding over the Session of the All India Muslim League at Allahabad in 1930, Dr. Iqbal’s Address represented the first clarion call for the establishment of an independent Islamic State in the Subcontinent.
From 1937 onwards, Mr. Mohammad Au Jinnah became identified in the muslim mind with the concept of the charismatic community, the concept which answered their psychic need for endowing and sanctifying their sense of community with a sense of power. Increasingly did he become, with the passage of time, the embodiment of Muslim national consensus, and this explains why and how muslims acknowledged him as their \'Quaid-e-Azam\" even before the launching of the Pakistan demand in March, 1940. From now on event moved fast.
Due to the persistent intransigence of the Indian National Congress, the Muslims were left with no alternative but to demand the partition of the sub-continent through the famous Resolution of 23rd March, 1940. It declared that no constitutional plan would be workable in the country or acceptable to the muslims unless it was designed on the basic principle that geographically contiguous units were demarcated into regions in a manner that the areas in which the muslims were numerically in a majority were grouped together to constitute an independent state.
After a hard and heroic struggle by the Muslims of the Sub-continent, the British Parliament was forced to approve the Indian Independence Act, 1947 leading to the birth of Pakistan on 14th August, 1947.
On this historic day the Quaid-e-Azam, while addressing the first session of Constituent Assembly of Pakistan in Karachi eulogized the services and sacrifices of the Muslims of the Sub-continent to achieve Pakistan, in the following words:-\"My thoughts are with the valiant fighters in our cause who readily sacrificed all they had, including their lives, to make Pakistan Possible.\'
Thus the response of the millions, sacrificing their lives and homes, to the call of \"UNITY, FAITH and DISCIPLINE\' from their Quaid-e-Azam firmly placed Pakistan on the world map.
Quaid-e-Azam was a great man and a great muslim. He vehemently advocated morality in politics.
He declared that morality in politics was even more important than in private life \"because if you do something wrong in public you hurt and harm more people\".
Let us endeavour to achieve the objective laid down by the Quaid in his broadcast to the Nation on 30th October, 1947.
\"Now is the time, chance and opportunity for every Mussalman to make his or her fullest and best contribution and make the greatest sacrifice and work ceaselessly in the service of our Nation and world.\"
Pakistan Post Office is celebrating the Golden Jubilee of Pakistan by issuing a Set of Four Stamps on the following personalities, Allama Dr. Sir Mohammad lqbal, Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah, and Nawabzada Liaquat Ali Khan of Rs. 3/- (each) denomination on August 14,1997.
ALLAMA DR. SIR MOHAMMAD IQBAL
Allama Dr. Sir Mohammad lqbal is one of most outstanding poets, writers, intellectuals and thinkers of modern times.
lqbal was born at Sialkot on November 9,1887. He held a brilliant academic record. He did his Masters in Philosophy from Government College, Lahore and joined there as a lecturer. He left for Europe in 1905 and studied Philosophy and Law at the Trinity College, Cambridge, Lincoln’s Inn, London and the Munich University. He was awarded a \'Ph.D.\' by the Munich University.
He returned home in 1908 and rejoined service in the Government College, Lahore. He resigned after sometime and started practicing Law. He was elected Member of the Punjab Legislative Assembly in 1926 for three years. In 1930 Iqbal was elected President of the Muslim League session held at Allahabad.
In 1931 he attended the Round Table Conference which met in London to frame a constitution for India and took active part in its various committees.
He was the first to give a concrete shape to the Muslim aspirations in India for \'a separate homeland\'. In his presidential Address at the Annual Session of the All India Muslim League at Allahabad (1930) he boldly asserted the Muslim demand for the creation of a Muslim India within India, and said \"I would like to see the Punjab, the North-West Frontier Province, Sindh and Baluchistan amalgamated into a single State\".
It was Iqbal’s fervent appeal which persuaded the Quaid-a-Azam in 1934 to return from England and lead the Muslims of the lndo-Pakistan sub-continent in their struggle for constitutional rights and its was in his letters to the Quaid-e-Azam that he elaborated his scheme in its political as well as cultural context.
He succeeded in convincing the Quaid-e-Azam that Pakistan was the only solution to the Political problems of the Muslims of India, and it was on the foundations laid by lqbal that the Muslim Leagues historic Pakistan Resolution of 1940 was based.
He believed, on the one hand, in the emancipation and freedom of the Muslims of the Indo-Pakistan Sub-continent and on the other, he argued for the unity of Muslim nations all-over the world. Iqbals political philosophy is not atomistic but organic in that it implied the formation of an association of the Muslim countries to better their own lot and be the upholder of peace and justice throughout the World.
His verses in Urdu and Persian and his monumental treatises have been translated into almost all the important languages of the world and found wide recognition in Iran, Turkey, Egypt, England, France, Germany, Italy, USSR, etc.
He died on April 21, 1938 at Lahore an was laid to rest near Badshahi Mosque. An academy named after him has been established by the Government of Pakistan to promote and disseminate the messages and teachings of Allama Iqbal.
QUAID-E-AZAM MOHAMMAD ALl JINNAH
On December 25,1876 a child was born in a prominent mercantile family of Karachi who was destined to change the course of history in South Asia and to carve out a homeland for the Muslims of India where they could pursue their destiny according to their faith and ideology.
From his very childhood, young Jinnah developed the habit of stern independence and self-reliance. In 1892, he was called to the Bar at the very early age of 16. He stayed for four year in England and on his return, started his practice in Bombay. The early period was spent in hard and constant labour.
However, he soon came to be looked upon not only as a brilliant lawyer, but also as a man of great integrity and character. He was soon elected to the Imperial Legislative Council where he moved the famous Muslim Waqf Bill-the first instance of a Bill passing into legislation on the motion of a private Member.
A lover of freedom and a great patriot, Mr. Jinnah began by accommodating the Congress point of view, and was called the \"Ambassador of Hindu-Muslim Unity\" when he brought about a rapprochement between the Congress and the Muslim League in 1916. He soon felt, however, that the Congress was merely a camouflage for consolidating Hindu India at the expense of Muslim, and it was at the London Meetings of the Round Table Conference during 1930-32 that he received the shock of his life. \"In the face of danger\" he said, \"the Hindu sentiment, the Hindu mind, the Hindu attitude led me to the conclusion that there was no hope of unity\".
Mr. Jinnah returned from England in 1934, and set out to galvanize the Muslim League into a most dynamic organization. \"We are a Nation\" he asserted, with our own distinctive culture and civilisation, language and literature, art and architecture, names and nomenclature, sense of value and proportion, legal laws and moral code, custom and calendar, history and tradition, aptitude and ambitions; in short, we have our own distinctive outlook on life and of life. By all canons of international law we are a Nation.\"
In subsequent years, Mr. Jinnah, popularly known by the title \'Quaid-e-Azam (the great Leader), came to symbolise the Muslim aspirations for a separate independent homeland, and in 1940 the Muslim League, under his inspiring leadership, demanded that India should be partitioned and the Muslim majority areas should constitute the sovereign, independent State of Pakistan.
It was his ardent advocacy and indenting character, his unshakable determination and his power of persuasion that brought about the successful fruition of the Muslim struggle in the shape of Pakistan.
The Quaid was seventy-one when Pakistan was born. He was spared by Almighty only for one year to set the ship of the new State on its keel. Even during the brief period of his Governor Generalship he strove hard to lay down correct precedents for the growth of a democratic tradition in Pakistan.
He died on September 11, 1948 deeply mourned by a grateful Nation but as one of the great immortals of history.
MOHTARMA FATIMA JINNAH
The youngest sister of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Au Jinnah, a daringly called by the Nation \"Madar-e-Milat, is said to have been born on July 31,1893 at Karachi and was educated in a convent school of Bombay. Later she studied dentistry at Calcutta and practiced there for a year.
She earned a place of great eminence as a freedom fighter of tenacious determination when her illustrious brother, Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, was in the midst of spearheading the struggle for Pakistan. Throughout those critical years of stresses and strains she looked after her physically ailing brother as a \'great national trust\'.
After the death of her great brother in 1948 she devoted the rest of her life to the educational and social uplift of the Muslim women. Her real political worth, sagacity, forthrighteousness and unstinted support for democracy came to the fore when she stood firmly behind the opposition parties in the Country trying to stem the tide of un-democratic practices and dictatorship. She inspired hope and gave new lease of life to the people of Pakistan by contesting the Presidential Election against the then President Ayub Khan in 1964.
Although she was Declared unsuccessful in the elections but she kindled the torch of democracy in Pakistan.
On July 9,1967 she died at Karachi and was buried in the courtyard of the Quaid-e-Azam’s Mausoleum, mourned deeply by the Nation.
NAWABZADA LIAQUAT ALI KHAN
Nawabzada Liaquat All Khan was born at Karnal, Haryana is 1895. He was the son of Rukunuddualah Shamsher Jung Nawab Rustam Au Khan, the Nawab of Karnal. He did his graduation in 1918 from MAO College, Aligarh and went to Exeter College. Oxford in 1922 and then Inner Temple for his Bar-at-Law in 1922. On his return to India in 1923, he joined the All India Muslim League.
Mr. Liaquat All Khan was a Member of the United Provinces Legislative Council from 1926-1940.
He was elected Deputy President of the United Provinces Legislative Council and held that office for six years. He was also leader of the Democratic Party of the Council.
In 1937, he went to London as a Member of the Indo-British Trade Delegation. When Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah reorganised the All India Muslim League in 1936 , Mr. Liaquat Ali Khan was elected its honorary Secretary. In 1940 he was elected to the Central Legislative Assembly and became the Deputy Leader of the Muslim League. He entered into an agreement with Bhulabai Desai on the question of representation in the Interim Government known as \"LIQAUAT-DESAI PACT, 1945.
In 1946 he was pointed as a Member of the Governor General\'s Executive Council and the Leader of the Muslim League Party in the Indian Interim Government. He held the portfolio of Finance, being the first Indian Finance Minister. The Budget for 1947-48 which he presented was acclaimed throughout the Country as a \'Poor Man\'s Budget\'.
Liaquat All Khan attended the Simla conference on behalf of the Muslim League in 1945 and 1946. He was one of the most prominent of the All India Muslim League Leaders and one of the most trusted Lieutenants of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Au Jinnah.
He was Muslim League Delegate of All Parties Convention at Calcutta in December 1928. He was elected Secretary, All India Muslim League in 1936 and re-elected in 1938,1940, 1941,14942 and 1943. He was Member of the League Central Parliamentary Board in 1936.
He moved a resolution regarding certain amendments in League Constitution in its historic 27th Session at Lahore in March 1940. He was Convener, Action Committee of the League and Member Parliamentary Board in 1943; he was also a member subjects Committee League\'s Legislator\'s Convention held at Delhi in April 1945.
On August 14,1947, he became the first Prime Minister and the Minister of Defence of the new Dominion of Pakistan. He wielded effective power and provided dynamic leadership to Pakistan during the most crucial phase of its history. He signed the \"LIAQUAT-NEHRU PACT\' in 1950 in New Delhi on the problem of minorities.
He was the Vice-Chairman, Basic Principles\' Committee of the Constituent Assembly in March 1949, which submitted its report in 1950.
He died at the hands of an assassin on October 16, 1951 while addressing a public meeting at Rawalpindi and was buried in the courtyard of the Quaid-e-Azam\'s mausoleum.

40 Years of Iaea-Paec Cooperation. (1997-7)

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is celebrating the 40th anniversary of its establishment this year. The IAEA\'s Statute came into force on 29th July 1957. Based in Vienna, Austria it is the World\'s Central intergovernmental forum for cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
Stemming from U.S. President Eisenhower\'s \"Atoms for Peace\" speech before the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1953, the Agency assists its 124 member states in their socio-economic development plans through the application of nuclear techniques in the areas of energy, agriculture, health, industry, quality assurance and basic research.
The basic interests of the member states are taken care of by the Agency\'s two main policy making organs, i.e., the Board of Governors and the General Conference. Their decisions shape the Organisation’s resources, programmes and priorities.
Each year the Agency provides hundreds of technical experts to the member states in order to train, advise, lecture and conduct research to foster self sufficient nuclear science programmes. A substantial part of the Agency\'s work relates to development of nuclear power, including its safety and waste management aspects and to the verification that nuclear technology is being utilised only for peaceful purposes.
This verification role in preventing the further spread of nuclear weapons involves deploying more than 200 inspectors worldwide to more than 1000 installation covered under the IAEA safeguards programme, including a certain number of nuclear installations in the states possessing nuclear weapons.
The Agency is focussing its emphasis on the nuclear safety. Although it is not an international regulatory body, its nuclear safety related work is chiefly oriented towards helping the national regulatory bodies of the member states. An international convention on nuclear safety has entered into force on 24th October, 1996 which addresses the safety of land-based civilian nuclear power plants. Many member states make use of Agency\'s safety recommendations as a basis for standards and rules.
The IAEA\'s programmes to foster peaceful nuclear applications, while diverse, are closely associated to its role to facilitate transfer of technology. Several of these programmes contribute, directly or indirectly, to the goals of Sustainable development and protection of environment as set out in \"Agenda 21\", the outcome of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. The Agency also has three international research laboratories and research centres where training and research projects are carried out mainly in support of technical cooperation and assistance activities. Many of these projects are conducted in conjunction with Food & Agricultural Organisation (FAO) and cover areas like plant breeding, genetics, insects and pests control, soil fertility, irrigation and crop production, animal husbandry and food preservation. Pakistan has remained an active participant in Agency\'s activities right from the beginning and has greatly benefited from its various programmes in promotion of nuclear techniques in the areas of energy, agriculture, health, industry and basic research.
The Agency\'s 40 years celebrations will focus on promotion of public information and understanding about its work. In this regard the Agency is planning publication of IAEA\'s history, essays, internation IAEA day, display of small videos on TVs of member states, honouring of researchers in the field of peaceful nuclear technology, etc.
In member states, the events highlighting the occasions are planned to be the seminars, symposia, scientific exhibitions by scientific organisations and societies, commemorative postal stamps and plagues, Pakistan being an active member of the IAEA is also sharing this celebrated occasion with the Agency.
(Contributed by: Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission)
To celebrate the occasion Pakistan Post Office is issuing a commemorative postage stamp on July 29,1997 of Rs. 2/- denomination.

World Population Day. (1997-6)

Today we are living in a world of 5.8 billion people. By 2000 another 0.4 billion will be added. A little over 8 years from now 6.7 billion people will inhabit the earth. Population may not level off until its growth is checked in the developing countries.
The fastest growth is often in the least developed countries-those least equipped to sustain increasing demands for food, clean water, healthcare, housing, education and other necessities.
Many of the bigger cities are growing twice as fast as the rest of the World Population. They are becoming a threat to the health, environment, socio-economic development.
Poverty, population growth and environmental destruction mean more Pressure for migration. - 1 .2 billion people live in absolute poverty.
- The 1 990s will see the largest increase in the population of developing ~ countries of any decade of history.
- Poverty and population growth combine for environmental degradation.
Pakistan - a developing and one of the most populated country ranks at No. 7 in respect of population. With 16.6 million population in 1901, it reached 32.5 million at the time of independence in 1947. Today it is estimated that the population of Pakistan has risen to the tune of 137 million. During the same period, 1901 -1 997, the world population grew two times, the population of developing countries increased four times and the population of Pakistan seven times.
If the population continues to grow at the same rate, it will reach 150 million mark by the year 2000. This means that the population of Pakistan will increase nine folds during the current century (1901-2000) as compared to the population of other developing countries which will increase six folds.
The improved health facilities in Pakistan have resulted in steep decline of death rate over the last 80 years while the birth rate has remained largely un-changed.
The total fertility rate in Pakistan is about 5.5, which means that on an average each woman has six children during her reproductive life span. This rate is among the highest in the world, however, death rate has declined quite dramatically during this century largely due to the introduction of modern antibiotics the success of public health and sanitation programmes.
The difference between the birth and death rate is the rate of natural increase. In the beginning of the century, the population areas, now comprising Pakistan was growing at less than one percent per year. Since the birth rate has remained high, while the death rate has declined, the rate of growth of population increased to about 3% per year. It is estimated at 2.7 percent today. It is quite obvious that if the birth rate remains high while the death rate continues to decline, the growth rate of population would remain higher.
As a result of rapid growth, the population of Pakistan is now composed primarily of young people. In Pakistan, more than 41 % of population is under the ages of 15 and 55.1% of the population is between the ages of 15 and 64.
Presently, due to over population, Pakistan is facing a lot of problems like poverty, illiteracy, un-employment, lack of housing, health and educational facilities. The situation is driving people to frustration, violence and drug addiction.
Releasing the importance of this universal problem, the United Nations has declared July 11, to be observed every year as the World Population Day-a day set aside to reflect on issues of tremendous importance which affect every one living on this planet.
Accessible family planning service is needed more than ever before to slow down the population growth and meet the reproductive needs of the people.
It is time we realize the importance of the problem and respond to it by making every one realize than the goals peoples welfare and well-begin shall remain elusive without population planning.
(Contributed by: Ministry of Population Welfare, Government of Pakistan. Demographic details by: National Institute of Population Studies (NIPS), Islamabad)
To focus world attention on the alarming growth of Population, Pakistan Post is issuing a special postage stamp of Rs. 2 denomination on \"World Population Day\" on July 11, 1997.

Fruits of Pakistan (Series) - Apple. (1997-5)

Apple is a symbol of health, beauty and love. It is a fruit which has universal cultivation and worldwide consumption in many forms. It may be called as king of fruits in temperate Regions of the world like mango in the tropical regions.
It ranks third in consumption after citrus and banana fruits in tropical countries. The common apple is believed to have its origin in the mountain ranges of the Caucasus extending between the Black and Caspian seas. In Pakistan various forms of apple showing great diversity in size, shape, colour and taste are grown from the time immemorial, particularly at higher elevations (about 1300m) in the areas adjoining Afghanistan, Iran and China. In Northern areas in Pakistan, wild species of apples are found growing from ancient time but the modern apples have very short history.
The cultivated varieties of apples belong to group Pyrus and sub-group malus. Botanically, these are given the name as Pyrus malus Linn. The crab type of apple is technically called as Pyrus baccata. The apple belonging to this wild species have inferior types of fruits and are generally used as rootstocks for the propagation of improved varieties.
Botanically speaking apple is a spurious fruit developed from the floral receptacle, which, after fertilization becomes swollen, and edible. It is, therefore, placed in the group of pome fruits (pears, apples and loquats). Apple is a very nutritious, aromatic and delicious fruit. It is very rich in Vitamin C, B and A. It contains about 41% sugar besides essential minerals in appreciable amounts.
Climate is an important factor in selecting the sites where apple will grow successfully.
Elevations from the sea level and the topography of the surroundings areas determine the pattern of local climates particularly in respect of temperature regime, aft flow, hail storms, light effect etc. Varieties having higher chilling requirements are planted at a higher elevations. However, killing of buds may occur at high altitudes due to low temperatures and cold winds. Severe prolonged cold (below - 6 degree centigrade) will kill most of the apple trees. Elevations ranging between 1 350m are generally considered good to meet the chilling requirements of most of the apple varieties. Gentle and moderate slopes are preferred to facilitate better orchard management.
Apple tree is more resistant to cold as compared to other deciduous trees. It requires a long cold period (2-3 months) and can tolerate temperature as low as below freezing point. One of the strong reasons to this phenomenon is that their chilling requirements are not met satisfactorily. Annual rainfall ranging between 500-750mm well distributed during growing season are considered desirable.
Apple trees are planted in deep, well drained clay loamy to sandy loam soils. This practice is common because vigorous root stocks are used for better root development. Dwarf root stocks have also been tested for various soils and for different situations and are being released for high density plantations and early bearing. Light, gravely, wet and water fogged soils are avoided for planting apple trees.
Important varieties
1. Golden Delicious: Tree is vigorous, heavy bearer, hardy, with good adaptability. It is partly self-fruitful and is an excellent pollinizer. Fruit medium to large size golden yellow in colour, aromatic, sweet juicy, good in taste, keeping quality is also good. Ripens in September/October.
2. Red Delicious: Tree is vigorous, good bearer. Fruit is large size with golden yellow skin covered with deep red stripes, It is a sweet, aromatic and delicious in taste. Matures in September/October.
3. Amri: Tree is vigorous. Fruit is large in size. Oval in shape. Skin colour is deep red and attractive. Flesh is firm but sweet and good in taste. Keeping quality is very good. Ripens in September/October. It has good export potential.
4. Anna: Tree is vigorous, Has very low chilling requirements. As a tropical apple it can be planted in the plains. Ripens in July/August. Fruit is attractive, juicy and slightly acidic. Keeping quality is also not good.
Yields: Apple varieties start bearing fruit after 5-6 years of their planting However, the improved varieties on dwarf root stocks and with close plantation start bearing fruit after 3-4 years.
The tree on vigorous root stocks reaches full maturity at the age of 10-12 Years. Bearing is delayed if severe pruning is followed in the early years.
In Pakistan Quetta valley, Ziarat and Loralai are important apple growing areas. In Punjab, Cultivation is limited to higher reaches in Murree Hills, Parachinar, Malakand division in NWFP and Northern areas also produce good quality apples. 442395 metric tons of apples are being produced from 39464 hectares in the country. Export possibilities in fresh and processed form exist which need to be further explored.
(Contributed by Horticultural Foundation of Pakistan.)
To draw public attention on cultivation of Fruits Pakistan Post Office, is issuing a special postage stamp of Rs. 2/- denomination on May 8,1997.

Great Poets of Two Countries - ALLAMA MUHAMMAD IQBAL & JALAL-AL-DIN MOULANA RUMI - Under Pak-Iran Agreement. (1997-4)

Allama Muhammad Iqbal is one of most outstanding poets, writers, intellectuals and thinkers of modern times.
Iqbal was born at Sialkot on November 9,1877. He held a brilliant academic record. After receiving his early education from Murray College, Sialkot, he did his Masters in Philosophy from Government College, Lahore and joined there as a lecturer. He left for Europe in 1905 and stayed there for three years. Iqbal studied Philosophy and Law at the Trinity College, Cambridge, Lincoln\'s Inn, London and the Munich University. He was awarded a Ph.D. by the Munich University on his renowned thesis \"Mabaadut Tibbiyat\'.
He returned home in 1908 and rejoined service in the Government College, Lahore. He resigned after sometime and started practicing Law. He was elected Member of the Punjab Legislative Assembly in 1926 for three years. In 1930 Iqbal was elected President of the Muslim League session held at Allahabad. In 1931 and 1932 he attended the Round Table Conferences which met in London to frame a constitution for India and took active part in its various committees. He was the first to give a concrete shape to the Muslim aspirations in India for \'a separate homeland, and defined its geographical boundaries, as clearly and. unambiguously as it could be possible, far back in the year 1930. In his Presidential Address at the Annual Session of the All India Muslim League at Allahabad (1930) he boldly asserted the Muslim demand for the creation of a Muslim India within India, and said \"I would like to see the Punjab, the North-West Frontier Province, Sindh and Baluchistan amalgamated into a single State\".
It was Iqbal\'s ferent appeal which persuaded the Quaid-e-Azam in 1934 to return from England and lead the Muslims of the Indo-Pakistan Sub-continent in their struggle for constitutional rights and it was in his letters to the Quaid-e-Aam that he elaborated his scheme in its political as well as cultural context. He succeeded in convincing the Quaid-e-Azam that Pakistan was the only solution to the political problems of the Muslims of India, and it was on the foundations laid by Iqbal that the Muslim League\'s historic Pakistan Resolution of 1940 was based.
Thus, Iqbal gave the blue-print for Pakistan. But the role he played in promoting an intellectual revolution among Muslims of the lndo-Pakistan Sub-continent is even more important.
He was a profound thinker who believed in dynamism, and throughout his poetry and prose he placed the greatest emphasis on \'action\', interpreting it as movement\'. Some of his epoch making poems are \'Shikwa\', \'Jawab-e-Shikwa\', \'Shama aur Shair\', \'Asrar-o-Ramooz\'. I-us genius is manifest in literary masterpieces like \'Payam-e-Mashriq\'. \'Bange Dira\', \'Zabur-e-Ajam\', \'Bal-e-Jibril\', \'Zarb-e-Kalim\', \'Pas Che-Bayad Kard Aee Aqwam-e-Sharq\' and Armughan-e-Hijaz\'. Of all his masterpieces \'Javid Nama\' could truly be regarded as Iqbal\'s Magnum opus. He believed, on the one hand, in the emancipation and freedom of the Muslims of the Indo-Pakistan Sub-continent and on the other, he argued for the unity of Muslim nations all-over the world. Iqbal\'s political philosophy is not atomistic but organic in that it implied the formation of an association of the Muslim countries to betten their own lot and be the upholder of peace and justice throughout the World. His verses in Urdu and Persian and his monumental treatises have been translated into almost all the important languages of the world and found wide recognition in Iran, Turkey, Egypt, England, France, Germany, Italy, USSR, etc. He died on April 21, 1938 at Lahore and was laid to rest near Badshahi Mosque.
An academy named after him has been established by the Government of Pakistan to Promote and disseminate the messages and teachings of Allama Iqbal.
JALAL-AL-DIN MOULANA RUMI
Jalal-Al- Din Maulana Rumi was born in 1184(604 Lunar Year) and passed away in 1252 (672 Lunar Year), His father, Baha\'al-Din Sultan al-Ulama\' Mohammad Bin Hossein, one of the great sages of 12th century (6th Lunar Year) was his first tutor,
At the death of his father, Moulvi became the disciple of Sheikh Borhan al-Din Mohaghigh Tarmmazi and followed the disciplines of spiritual path (Tariqah). At the death of Tarmazi, Moulvi who as then agnostic, became the spiritual master of his time. He began to teach a large number of disciples. It is said that in each of his class more than four hundreds of disciples were presented.
In 1222(714 Lunar Year) at the age of 38 he met a sufi enamoured of spiritual love, named, Shams al-Din of Tabrez. This meeting was the most important event in his spiritual life. Influenced by Shams, Moulvi discontinued to be a preacher and isolated himself from the people. He led the life of a recluse and lived only with Shams.
Then sudden great change appeared both in his moral characteristics and in his opinions and beliefs.
This behaviour finally resulted in growing a sense of enmity amongst his disciples towards shams of Tabrez and they began to annoy him which finally made him leave Konia. Although he came back to Konia again, but the troubles made by the Molavis\'s disciples was considered a great danger to his life. Therefore, he again left Konia and this time for ever. After sudden disappearance of Shams (or his mysterious death), Maulana, for being separated from his sweetheart, with a heart brimful of sorrow, began to compose tragic poems and weep painfully in his reclusion.
The collection of his poems, in memory of his master, was called Divan-i-Shamsi Tabrez. The other best Known work of Moulvi are Mathnawi, Quatrains, Fihi ma fihi, Makatib (collection of his letters) and Majalis Saba\'i (sevenfold sittings)
Among his well Known disciples we can mention Salah al-Din Zarkub and Hesam al- Din Chalbi. The latter was the one who encouraged Moulvi in composing Mathnawi.
To commemorate Pakistan-Iran Agreement Pakistan Post Office is issuing a set of two stamps of Rs. 3/- (each) denomination on April 21, 1997.

660th Jubilee of Amer Temur.(1997-3)

Amir Temur is famous in the world as an outstanding statesman, skilful commander, great planner and a patron of science and culture.
One of his first contributions to the peoples of Central Asia is that he put an end to the feudalism. Which had continued for about 140 years. He liberated the people of Central Asia from Mongol supremacy and formed a powerful centralized State.
This State was not an elite state of two or three classes, viz: landowners, soldiers or merchants, It was a State having several classes and strata of society: feudal lords, clergy, soldiers ordinary people etc. It was supervised on the basis of Shariat and law (tur and tuzuk). Temur rules with power and applicability of the law. Vizier, Emirs, Prince and merchants everyone was equal before the law.
Temur was an expert of military strategy, who carried out drastic reforms in the army, military planning and strategy. He formed a permanent corps for special tasks of 10,000 soldiers. It was named as \"Sunsiz\", which means \'Innumerable\". An agriculture corps, which was utilized in agricultural works and was named as \"Ekinchi\" (\"tiller\") was also organized.
Significant changes were executed in army as well. At that time, the army used to form one row, just before the starting of the battle. Temur ordered to form seven rows with flank protection and reserve, Temur commissioned into his army strong artillery, tactic of shooting with stones, wood and burning oil. All this was used during the siege.
The reconnaissance was strengthened as well. Before the start of the military campaign, the major part of the army was mobilized towards the borders of the enemy.
During the course of military action, Amir Temur used dummy maneuvers, ambush and methods of guerilla warfare to confuse his enemy.
It is a matter of common knowledge, that in the period from 1318-1404 Amir Temur undertook a campaign in Iran, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Syria and India, which resulted in destruction, havoc and human casualties.
There was no compelling justification for the attack on Hindustan (1398-1399). But nevertheless his campaign had led to some positive achievements such as:
Strong impact was created to the Golden Horde and Usmanian work. As a result, liberation of Russia from the Mongol Yoke was expedited. Peoples of Balkans were liberated as well.
The plans of Golden Horde, Turks and Egyptians on starting a big war in Near and Middle East for conquering and occupying Iran, Azerbaijan and Arabic speaking countries were foiled.
The Great Silk Road connecting East with the Mediterranean Land s and Europe was reconstructed. This is the second great contribution of Amir Temur to the history of the world.
Another contribution of great significance was the development of sciences and culture during Amir Temur\'s time. Such cities as Samarkand, Baghdad, Kesh, Karshi,.Bukhara, Benaket, Baylakan, Derbent and others, destroyed by Genghiz Khan were restored by Amir Temur. The irrigation system, gardens and parks, roads and \"Caravan-Soroys\" were reconstructed.
Disciplines such as: theology, jurisprudence, mathematics, astronomy, history, philosophy and music were developed by Great Temur.

Special Summit of Organisation of Islamic Countries, Islamabad. (1997-2)

The believers are but a single Brotherhood. So make peace and \" reconciliation between your two brothers \"Al-Quran S.XL IX. 10.\"
The OIC was established in Rabat on 12 Rajab 1389H (25 September 1969) when the first ever meeting of the leaders of the Islamic world was held in the wake of the criminal attempt to burn down the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the occupied city of Al Quds, the Rabat Summit asserted the unity of the Ummah and voiced its determination to pool its resources, combine its efforts and speak with one voice to safeguard the interests and secure the progress and well being of muslims the world over.
THE CHARTER OF THE OIC AIMS TO:
Strengthen:
Islamic Solidarity among member states. Co-operation in the political, economic, social, cultural and scientific fields. The struggle of all Muslim people to safeguard their dignity independence and national rights.
Co-ordinate action to:
Safeguard the Holy Places Support the struggle of the Palestinian people and assist them in recovering their rights and liberating their occupied territories.
Work to:
Eliminate racial discrimination and all forms of colonialism.
Create a favourable atmosphere for the promotion of co-operation and understanding between the member states and other countries.
In order to achieve objectives the OIC has main bodies, secondary organs, institutions and specialised committee.
Conference of Kings and Heads of State:
The Islamic Summit Conference is the Supreme body of the 010 entrusted to examine questions of vital importance and spell out the organisation. The Conference meets every three years or whenever the interests of the Muslim nation so requires. To date, seven summit conferences have been held:
The Rabat Summit, 22-25 September 1969.
The Lahore Summit, 22-24 February 1974.
The Makkah a! Mukarramah Taif Summit, 25-28, January 1981.
The Casablanca Summit, 16-19 January 1984.
The Kuwait Summit, 26-29 January 1987.
The Dakar Summit, 9-12 December 1991.
The Casablanca Summit, 13-14 December 1994.
The current Chairman of the Conference is His Highness King Hassan II of Morocco.
THE OIC EXTRAORDINARY SUMMIT IN ISLAMABAD
The OIC was born, like many of its members, in the heady decade of the 1 960s when the peoples of Asia and Africa were breaking free of the last shackles of colonialism. It is therefore befitting that the 010 Extraordinary Summit in Islamabad should coincide with the commemoration of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan\'s Golden Jubilee of Independence. Pakistan is the only state in the world created in the name of Islam. What better tribute to fifty years of Independence that to celebrate it with our Muslim brothers.
The theme of the Islamabad Summit is \"Preparing the Islamic World for the 21st Century\" The world around us has undergone a fundamental transformation since the birth of the 010 some two and a half decades ago. Today Mankind stands poised at the threshold of new era, an era where the world shrinks everyday with the advances in information and communications technology.
Consequently, it is an ear where understanding, tolerance and amity among peoples becomes all the more vital. The 010 has a pivotal role to play in the shaping of this new era by, at one level, defining new perspectives towards promoting the solidarity of the Ummah, and at another, building bridges of harmony and peace with the rest of the world.
\"An those who strive in our (CAUSE) we will certainly guide them to our Path.\" (Al-Quran S.XX.IX.69)
(Contributed by Ministry of Foreign Affairs Pakistan)
To commemorate the occasion Pakistan Post is issuing a stamp of Rs. 2/-denomination on March 23rd, 1997.