They're
labelled as the "white" in the Pakistani flag. The extraordinary
individuals and contributors Pakistani's who aren't Muslims. We are immensely
proud of these Pakistanis:
1.
Cecil Chaudhry
Group
Captain Cecil Chaudhry was a Pakistani Christian, academic, human rights
activist, and veteran fighter pilot. As a Flight Lieutenant, he fought in the
Indo-Pakistani war of 1965 and later, as a Squadron Leader, in the
Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. He was awarded the Sitara-e-Jurat (Star of
Courage) for his actions during that mission.
2. Deena
M. Mistri
Deena M. Mistri was an educationist from
Pakistan. She started teaching English to the secondary classes at the B.V.S.
in 1951. She was the first lady teacher to teach the secondary classes during
those days. She completed her B.Ed. with Honors in 1958 from the
University of Karachi. While she was teaching at the B.V.S. she was awarded a
Fulbright Scholarship from the US in 1961, where she completed her Diploma in
Education.
3.Bapsi
Sidhwa
Bapsi Sidhwa is a renowned novelist and
published author of Pakistani origin who writes in English and is resident in
America. She is best known for her collaborative work with Indo-Canadian
filmmaker Deepa Mehta: Sidhwa wrote both the 1991 novel Ice Candy Man which
served as the basis for Mehta's 1998 film Earth as well as the 2006 novel
Water: A Novel which is based upon Mehta's 2005 film Water. She has previously
taught at the University of Houston, Rice University, Columbia University,
Mount Holyoke College, and Brandeis University.
4.
Danish Prabha Shanker Kaneria
Danish Prabha Shanker Kaneria is a
Pakistani cricketer. He has continued the tradition of great Pakistani leg spin
bowlers and possesses a very well disguised googly. In Test matches, Kaneria
holds the record for most wickets by any Pakistani spin bowler and fourth on
the list of most Test wickets over all, only behind Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis
and Imran Khan.
5.
Jamsheed Kaikobad Ardeshir Marker
Jamsheed Kaikobad Ardeshir Marker,
Hilal-e-Imtiaz is a veteran Pakistani diplomat. He is listed in the Guinness
Book of Records as having been ambassador to more countries than any other
person. He speaks English, Urdu, Gujarati, French,German, and Russian and was
Pakistan's top envoy to the United States and more than a dozen other countries
for more than three decades and earned the distinction as the world's
longest-serving ambassador.
6.
Julius Salik
Julius Salik is a Pakistani Christian
and activist for minority rights based in Islamabad. In 1996, he founded the
World Minorities Alliance to advocate for the social status of minorities,
initially religious minorities in Pakistan - including Buddhism, Christians,
Hindus, and Sikhs. That same year, he was nominated by Prime Minister Benazir
Bhutto for the Nobel Peace Prize.
7. Mr.
Justice Retired Rana Bhagwandas
Mr. Justice Retired Rana Bhagwandas a
highly respected name of the Pakistani judiciary was a senior judge and former
acting chief justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan (CJP). He remained the
acting CJP during the 2007 judicial crisis in Pakistan and also briefly became
the acting Chief Justice of Pakistan when the incumbent Iftikhar Muhammad
Chaudhry went on foreign tours in 2005 and 2006.
8.
Salman Albert
The One Man Army. The
man behind many big songs and artists. Band member (Guitarist/Vocalist) @
Entity Paradigm. Previous bands include Eastern Boyz (Drums,Guitars,Bass
and Vocals), Bluebuzz (Drums), Incision (Drums), Noori (Drums) and
Entity(Drums/Backing Vocals). Have played live as a session player with
Junoon (Drums), Mekaal Hasan Band (Drums,Guitars,Bass), Jal (Drums,Guitars,
Backing Vocals), The Trip (Drums), Noori (Drums), Zeb and Haniya (Guitars).
9.
Jharna Basak(Shabnam)
Jharna Basak, known as Shabnam, is one
of Pakistan’s most famous film actresses. Shabnam was active in the
Pakistanifilm industry, Lollywood in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, and in the
Bangladeshi film industry in the 1990s. Born in Dhaka, formerly a part of
Pakistan called East Pakistan, she was considered a versatile, romantic and
most popular actress in both West Pakistan andEast Pakistan in her time.
Shabnam worked in total 160 films, including 152 Urdu films, 4 Bengali and 4
Punjabi films.
10.
Sister Gertrude
Sister Gertrude is the founder of the famously
known, Darul Sukun. In 1970 Sister Gertrude traveled back to Holland and
made TV appearances and newspaper appeals for aid for the struggling home. With
help from philanthropists and Dutch companies like KLM, they managed to scrape
by. The home continues to be supported by the Dutch people with approximately
half a million euro being collected to finance the project between 2004 and
2008. In time, Sister Gertrude came to be described as the "Mother Teresa
of Pakistan." In recognition of her work for the homeless, the needy and
the handicapped, on March 23, 1989 she received the Sitara-i-Quaid-i-Azam
(Order of the Great Leader) from the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
11.
Suneeta Marshall
Suneeta Marshall is a Pakistani model
and television actress. Marshall was introduced into the modeling world by her
aunt. She made her first appearance in a Garnier Fructis commercial and other
hair products such as Pantene, Head and Shoulders and Kuene.She was also in a
drama tair-e-lahoti as Mahnoor in 2008. Marshall returned as a model for Gul
Ahmed. She worked with fashion designers such as Deepak Perwani, HSY, Bunto
Kazmi and Nilofer Shahid. Marshall was chosen by Bunto Kazmi to model her
clothes in 2000 for a Milan fashion show and later modeled for Dior and Gucci.
12. Mr.
Geoffery D. Langlands
Mr. Geoffery D. Langlands, a former
British colonial officer and a lifelong educationist has rendered countless
services to education for well over six decades. For the past quarter-century,
his home and work have been in Chitral, a sweeping district of snow-dusted
peaks at the northern tip of Pakistan. The institution he ran here, the
Langlands School and College, has become a watchword for excellence; each year, the best of the school’s 1,000-plus students,
one-third of them girls, go on to universities in bigger cities, the United
States or the United Kingdom. After the other British left, Mr. Langlands
stayed on, taking a teaching job at Aitchison College in Lahore, Pakistan’s
most prestigious boarding school. At the age of 94, he chose to retire and settle
in Lahore, where his former students have arranged a small apartment for him on
the magnificent grounds of his old school, Aitchison College. He has also,
quietly, chosen his spot in one of the city’s Christian cemeteries: near the
gate, he says, so friends can visit.
13.
Shallum Asher Xavier
Shallum Asher Xavier is a Pakistani
guitarist, composer and music producer. He has been recording professionally
for 15 years, and has played as a session musician and recorded with most of
the renowned Pakistani mainstream artists including Ali Haider, Najam Shiraz,
Zeb and Haniya,Hadiqa Kiyani, and Strings. He was one of the founding members
of famous band, Fuzon. Xavier fas been awarded Best Guitarist of Pakistan 2
years running, as well as an award for Best South Asian Band and Best Composer
for his composition of Khamaj. He has collaborated independently with Ingrid
Kindem, Hildegun and Mocci (Fryd), and has performed with them on a number of
occasions in both Pakistan and Norway.
14. Dr
Alexander John Malik
Dr Alexander John Malik, is the
longest-serving Bishop in the history of the Anglican Church of the
Subcontinent. After serving for 32 years as Bishop of Lahore, he retired in
Sept 2014. Dr Malik got his Master's degree from McGill University, Canada, and
his Doctorate of Divinity from Wheaton College, USA. While studying at the
Islamic Research Center in McGill University, he worked on his PhD thesis based
on the life of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). He is a strong advocate of interfaith
harmony and has devoted his life to the cause.
15.
Louis John Pinto
Louis John Pinto, better known to all as
‘Gumby’, is one of the most recognized, accomplished, and respected music
artists in the Pakistani music industry. Gumby is perhaps the most recorded
musician in the country, considering he sits in on recording sessions with a
wide range of bands and artists evidenced in the fact that he has been recorded
on at least seven different artists’ albums over the span of this past year.
Bands such as Kaavish, Jal, Mekaal Hasan Band, Ali Azmat and Zeb & Haniya
are just to name a few.
16. Iqbal
Masih
Iqbal Masih was a Pakistani child who
became a symbol of abusive child labor in the developing world. During the
1980's, at the age of 4, Iqbal's father sold him to a carpet weaver to pay off
a $12 debt owed by his family. He spent 6 years chained to a carpet-weaving
loom. He was made to work six days a week, at least 14 hours a day, tying
millions of knots to make the intricate carpet designs. When he was 10 years old, Iqbal was freed by the Bonded Labor
Liberation Front. He then went to school, and completed four years of work in
just two years. Iqbal became an outspoken advocate for other child slaves,
becoming involved in demonstrations and speaking at meetings all over the world
about his experiences as a child laborer. He even went undercover, pretending
to be a factory worker, so he could interview children about their working
conditions. In 1994, Iqbal won the Reebok Human Rights Award for his efforts to
help free other bonded child laborers. His growing popularity and influence
caused him to receive numerous death threats. In 1995, when he was just 13
years old, Iqbal was shot dead by unknown assailants.
17.
Deepak Perwani
Deepak Perwani is an internationally
acclaimed Pakistani fashion designer. Recepient of several awards, Deepak is
recognized as one of the top designers. He recently created the world's largest
kurta. The Guinness World Records later certified the entry based on a rigorous
documentation process. The kurta weighs 800kg, is 101 feet tall and 59 feet
3inches wide. Each sleeve is almost 57 feet long. It took a team of 50
hardworking professional tailors a period of 30 days to make the kurta. The
huge kurta is made of 800 yards of cotton blend fabric. The world's largest
designer kurta will later be used to create smaller kurtas that will be donated
to children's homes run by the Edhi Foundation, a Pakistani NGO. The fashion
designer Deepak runs his own boutique in Pakistan.
18. Zoe
Viccaji
Pop sensation Zoe Viccaji has been
playing guitar and writing her own music since the age of fifteen. She has written mostly English songs during her career, but is now
shifting her attention to Eastern and Urdu material. Zoe spent the early part
of her career as a painter, but soon realized that music was her true calling.
She also acted in a few musicals abroad and two musicals 'Mama Mia' and
'Chicago' in Pakistan, soon after which she was asked to come on board
COKEStudio (House band) as a supporting vocalist. She has been part of season 3
and 4 so far. She has set up her own home studio where she continues to record
her own music, and collaborate with various producers.
19. Benjamin
Sisters
Benjamin Sisters were a Pakistani
singing group of three sisters, Nerissa, Beena and Shabana Benjamin. They
participated in various music learning programs aired on Pakisan Television
from 1968 to 1987. These programs were conducted by Sohail Rana; a prominent
music director of Pakistan, and they were aimed at educating children about
music. The sisters usually sang Punjabi and Urdu songs, and tended to initially provide new renderings of songs sung by other
artists as opposed to developing their own material. This was partially because
the sisters initially appeared in the TV talk show Silver Jubilee (1983), where
old artistes were often the invited guests whose songs the sisters would
perform as a mark of honor. The three sang in a synchronized way, in a single
voice. The sisters later achieved further fame after the release of the
patriotic national songs of Pakistan.
20.
Florence Villiers
Florence Villiers is a celebrated chef
and owner of Cafe Flo, which is perhaps Karachi's best known and most
frequented French restaurant. Florence was responsible for introducing
Karachiites to authentic French cuisine. With Cafe Flo, she set new standards
of fine dining that resulted in establishing Florence as one of the best chefs
in town. Since its inception in 1990s, Cafe Flo has not just maintained its quality but improved it. Florence's other claim to
fame is that she's Malika-e-Tarannum Noorjehan's former daughter-in-law. She
was married to Noorjehan's eldest son Akbar Rizvi with whom she has two
children, Sonya Jahan, model and bollywood actress and Alexander Sikandar
Rizvi, a brilliant Chef and owner of Xander's, an upscale cafe in Karachi.
21.
Bohemia
Roger David better known by his stage
names Bohemia, Raja and The Punjabi Rapper is a Pakistani American Rapper and
music producer from California. He Raps in Punjabi and describes himself as
"The King of Punjabi Rapper" and "the pioneer of Desi Hip
Hop" and the "creator of Punjabi rap".
22. Mary
Emily Gonsalves
Mary Emily Gonsalves is a Roman
Catholic nun from Karachi, Pakistan. From 1972 to 1982 Sister Mary Emily FC of
the Daughters of the Cross religious order, was the Principal of the St.
Joseph's College (Karachi), Pakistan. In 2005, when St. Joseph's College
was returned to the Catholic Board of Education, Sr Emily was again appointed
the principal. On the 23 March 2009 the Government of Pakistan awarded Sr.
Emily the Sitara-e-Imtiaz which she received from the Governor of Sindh. This
was in recognition of her services to education.
23.
Sardar Ramesh Singh Arora
Sardar Ramesh Singh Arora became the first
Sikh in close to 67 years who entered into Pakistan’s biggest provincial
assembly and took oath as a parliamentarian. Arora and his family stayed on in
Lyallpur (now Faisalabad) and then moved to Nankana Sahib, a holy city for
Sikhs, in 1965. Ramesh spent his childhood there and was educated there. He
received his master's degree from Lahore's Punjab University in 1997, and then
started working with the World Bank as a microfinance and institutional
development specialist.
24. William
Desmond Harney
William Desmond Harney was born in
Chittagong in 1937. He received early education at St. Placids. Afterwards he
joined Pakistan Air Force (PAF) academy in 1957 and graduated in
1960. Flight Lieutenant William D. Harney’s daring performance and
professional ability during the indo-pak wars 1965 and 1971 has been of the
highest order. Despite his hand injury, the officer voluntarily carried out all available bombing missions and particularly the most risky
ones to Ambala, Pathankot, Adampur, Halwara and Jodhpur.Flight Lieutenant
William D. Harney was awarded Sitara-i-Jura for his courage and dedication to
duty. Squadron Leader W.D. Harney also took part enthusiastically in the
1971 war and commenced a number of daring missions. In 1974, he retired from
duty.
25. Lynette
Viccaji
Lynette
Viccaji teaches English Literature at Cedar College and she is a lecturer at
the Notre Dame Institute of Education. Lynette has taught at The Lyceum School
where she served as the Head of Department for English Literature. In addition,
she has worked at the Convent of Jesus and Mary and St. Michael’s Convent
School as an O’Level English Language and Literature teacher and coordinator.
Shehas
also served as consultant for the Oxford University Press. Lynette
has been involved in and remains active with various workshops and programs
related to teacher training and professional development. She has been a
regular participant in numerous literary events hosted by The British Council,
Oxford University Press and SPELT across Pakistan.Lynette has a B.A Honours and
Masters in English from The Karachi University and a B.Ed from the Notre Dame
Institute of Education.
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