Re-Discover the World

Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan

2009-04-27T11:32:00.000-07:00

Dr.A.Q.Khan (nishan-e-imtiaz) is known all over the world as the man responsible for putting PAKISTAN on the nuclear map, born in 1936 in the Indian state of Bhopal. Dr. Khan migrated to PAKISTAN in 1952.He studied at the Karachi University and subsequently went to Europe in 1961 where he studied at the technical university of west Berlin. The technological university of Delft, Holland at the famous and old university of Leaven, Belgium, specializing in Physical Metallurgy and solid state Physics . He worked for a number of years in Holland. In 1976, imbued with spirit of patriotism he returned to PAKISTAN to serve his mother land. He conceived the Kahuta project and confidently established the now famous KRL (Khan Research Laborites. He became famous nationally and internationally in 1984. When announcement confirming success at Kahuta. These laboratories were awarded the name of the person who established it. Dr. A.Q.Khan was awarded Hilal-E-Imtiaz in 1989 and Nishan-E-Imtiaz in 1996 in recognition of his outstanding services. Dr. A.Q.Khan is the author of 161 research papers and 6 internationally known books in addition to patenting several inventions.

IBN SINA

2009-04-27T11:24:00.000-07:00

Abu Ali al-Hussain Ibn Abdallah Ibn Sina was born in 980 C.E. at Afshana near Bukhara. The young Bu Ali received his early education in Bukhara, and by the age of ten had become well versed in the study of the Qur'an and various sciences. He started studying philosophy by reading various Greek, Muslim and other books on this subject and learnt logic and some other subjects from Abu Abdallah Natili, a famous philosopher of the time. While still young, he attained such a degree of expertise in medicine that his renown spread far and wide. At the age of 17, he was fortunate in curing Nooh Ibn Mansoor, the King of Bukhhara, of an illness in which all the well-known physicians had given up hope. On his recovery, the King wished to reward him, but the young physician only desired permission to use his uniquely stocked library.
On his father's death, Bu Ali left Bukhara and travelled to Jurjan where Khawarizm Shah welcomed him. There, he met his famous contemporary Abu Raihan al-Biruni. Later he moved to Ray and then to Hamadan, where he wrote his famous book Al-Qanun fi al-Tibb. Here he treated Shams al-Daulah, the King of Hamadan, for severe colic. From Hamadan, he moved to Isphahan, where he completed many of his monumental writings. Nevertheless, he continued travelling and the excessive mental exertion as well as political turmoil spoilt his health. Finally, he returned to Hamadan where he died in 1037 C.E.
He was the most famous physician, philosopher, encyclopaedist, mathematician and astronomer of his time. His major contribution to medical science was his famous book al-Qanun, known as the "Canon" in the West. The Qanun fi al-Tibb is an immense encyclo- paedia of medicine extending over a million words. It surveyed the entire medical knowledge available from ancient and Muslim sources. Due to its systematic approach, "formal perfection as well as its intrinsic value, the Qanun superseded Razi's Hawi, Ali Ibn Abbas's Maliki, and even the works of Galen, and remained supreme for six centuries". In addition to bringing together the then available knowledge, the book is rich with the author's original eontribution. His important original contribution includes such advances as recognition of the contagious nature of phthisis and tuberculosis; distribution of diseases by water and soil, and interaction between psychology and health. In addition to describing pharmacological methods, the book described 760 drugs and became the most authentic materia medica of the era. He was also the first to describe meningitis and made rich contributions to anatomy, gynaecology and child health.
His philosophical encyclopaedia Kitab al-Shifa was a monu- mental work, embodying a vast field of knowledge from philosophy to science. He classified the entire field as follows: theoretical knowledge: physics, mathematics and metaphysics; and practical knowledge: ethics, economics and politics. His philosophy synthesises Aristotelian tradition, Neoplatonic influences and Muslim theology.

Ibn Battuta - the great traveller

2009-04-27T10:44:00.000-07:00

Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Battuta, also known as Shams ad - Din, was born at Tangier, Morocco, on the 24th February 1304 C.E. (703 Hijra). He left Tangier on Thursday, 14th June, 1325 C.E. (2nd Rajab 725 A.H.), when he was twenty one years of age. His travels lasted for about thirty years, after which he returned to Fez, Morocco at the court of Sultan Abu 'Inan and dictated accounts of his journeys to Ibn Juzay. These are known as the famous Travels (Rihala) of Ibn Battuta. He died at Fez in 1369 C.E.
Ibn Battuta was the only medieval traveller who is known to have visited the lands of every Muslim ruler of his time. He also travelled in Ceylon (present Sri Lanka), China and Byzantium and South Russia. The mere extent of his travels is estimated at no less than 75,000 miles, a figure which is not likely to have been surpassed before the age of steam.

Ibn Battuta - The Forgotten Traveller

Ibn Battuta's sea voyages and references to shipping reveal that the Muslims completely dominated the maritime activity of the Red Sea, the Arabian Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the Chinese waters. Also it is seen that though the Christian traders were subject to certain restrictions, most of the economic negotiations were transacted on the basis of equality and mutual respect.
Ibn Battuta, one of the most remarkable travellers of all time, visited China sixty years after Marco Polo and in fact travelled 75,000 miles, much more than Marco Polo. Yet Battuta is never mentioned in geography books used in Muslim countries, let alone those in the West. Ibn Battuta's contribution to geography is unquestionably as great as that of any geographer yet the accounts of his travels are not easily accessible except to the specialist. The omission of reference to Ibn Battuta's contribution in geography books is not an isolated example. All great Musiims whether historians, doctors, astronomers, scientists or chemists suffer the same fate. One can understand why these great Muslims are ignored by the West. But the indifference of the Muslim governments is incomprehensible. In order to combat the inferiority complex that plagues the Muslim Ummah, we must rediscover the contributions of Muslims in fields such as science, medicine, engineering, architecture and astronomy. This will encourage contemporary young Muslims to strive in these fields and not think that major success is beyond their reach.

Ibn Sina (Avicenna) - doctor of doctors

2009-04-24T06:15:00.000-07:00

Ibn Sina was born in 980 C.E. in the village of Afshana near Bukhara which today is located in the far south of Russia. His father, Abdullah, an adherent of the Ismaili sect, was from Balkh and his mother from a village near Bukhara.
In any age Ibn Sina, known in the West as Avicenna, would have been a giant among giants. He displayed exceptional intellectual prowess as a child and at the age of ten was already proficient in the Qur'an and the Arabic classics. During the next six years he devoted himself to Muslim Jurisprudence, Philosophy and Natural Science and studied Logic, Euclid, and the Almeagest.
He turned his attention to Medicine at the age of 17 years and found it, in his own words, "not difficult". However he was greatly troubled by metaphysical problems and in particular the works of Aristotle. By chance, he obtained a manual on this subject by the celebrated philosopher al-Farabi which solved his difficulties.
By the age of 18 he had built up a reputation as a physician and was summoned to attend the Samani ruler Nuh ibn Mansur (reigned 976-997 C.E.), who, in gratitude for Ibn Sina's services, allowed him to make free use of the royal library, which contained many rare and even unique books. Endowed with great powers of absorbing and retaining knowledge, this Muslim scholar devoured the contents of the library and at the age of 21 was in a position to compose his first book.
At about the same time he lost his father and soon afterwards left Bukhara and wandered westwards. He entered the services of Ali ibn Ma'mun, the ruler of Khiva, for a while, but ultimately fled to avoid being kidnapped by the Sultan Mahmud of Ghazna. After many wanderings he came to Jurjan, near the Caspian Sea, attracted by the fame of its ruler, Qabus, as a patron of learning. Unfortunately Ibn Sina's arrival almost coincided with the deposition and murder of this ruler. At Jurjan, Ibn Sina lectured on logic and astronomy and wrote the first part of the Qanun, his greatest work.

Abu Ali al-Husain ibn Abdullah ibn Sina (980-1037 C.E.)

He then moved to Ray, near modern Teheran and established a busy medical practice. When Ray was besieged, Ibn Sina fled to Hamadan where he cured Amir Shamsud-Dawala of colic and was made Prime Minister. A mutiny of soldiers against him caused his dismissal and imprisonment, but subsequently the Amir, being again attacked by the colic, summoned him back, apologised and reinstated him! His life at this time was very strenuous: during the day he was busy with the Amir's services, while a great deal of the night was passed in lecturing and dictating notes for his books. Students would gather in his home and read parts of his two great books, the Shifa and the Qanun, already composed.
Following the death of the Amir, Ibn Sina fled to Isfahan after a few brushes with the law, including a period in prison. He spent his final years in the services of the ruler of the city, Ala al-Daula whom he advised on scientific and literary matters and accompanied on military campaigns.
Friends advised him to slow down and take life in moderation, but this was not in character. "I prefer a short life with width to a narrow one with length", he would reply. Worn out by hard work and hard living, Ibn Sina died in 1036/1 at a comparatively early age of 58 years. He was buried in Hamadan where his grave is still shown.
Al-Qifti states that Ibn Sina completed 21 major and 24 minor works on philosophy, medicine, theology, geometry, astronomy and the like. Another source (Brockelmann) attributes 99 books to Ibn Sina comprising 16 on medicine, 68 on theology and metaphysics 11 on astronomy and four on verse. Most of these were in Arabic; but in his native Persian he wrote a large manual on philosophical science entitled Danish-naama-i-Alai and a small treatise on the pulse.
His most celebrated Arabic poem describes the descent of Soul into the Body from the Higher Sphere. Among his scientific works, the leading two are the Kitab al-Shifa(Book of Healing), a philosophical encyclopaedia basedupon Aristotelian traditions and the al-Qanun al-Tibbwhich represents the final categorisation of Greco-Arabian thoughts on Medicine.
Of Ibn Sina's 16 medical works, eight are versified treatises on such matter as the 25 signs indicating the fatal termination of illnesses, hygienic precepts, proved remedies, anatomical memoranda etc. Amongst his prose works, after the great Qanun, the treatise on cardiac drugs, of which the British Museum possesses several fine manuscripts, is probably the most important, but it remains unpublished.
The Qanun is, of course, by far the largest, most famous and most important of Ibn Sina's works. The work contains about one million words and like most Arabic books, is elaborately divided and subdivided. The main division is into five books, of which the first deals with general principles; the second with simple drugs arranged alphabetically; the third with diseases of particular organs and members of the body from the head to the foot; the fourth with diseases which though local in their inception spread to other parts of the body, such as fevers and the fifth with compound medicines.
The Qanun distinguishes mediastinitis from pleurisy and recognises the contagious nature of phthisis (tuberculosis of the lung) and the spread of disease by water and soil. It gives a scientific diagnosis of ankylostomiasis and attributes the condition to an intestinal worm. The Qanun points out the importance of dietetics, the influence of climate and environment on health and the surgical use of oral anaesthetics. Ibn Sina advised surgeons to treat cancer in its earliest stages, ensuring the removal of all the diseased tissue. The Qanun's materia medica considers some 760 drugs, with comments on their application and effectiveness. He recommended the testing of a new drug on animals and humans prior to general use.
Ibn Sina noted the close relationship between emotions and the physical condition and felt that music had a definite physical and psychological effect on patients. Of the many psychological disorders that he described in the Qanun, one is of unusual interest: love sickness! ibn Sina is reputed to have diagnosed this condition in a Prince in Jurjan who lay sick and whose malady had baffled local doctors. Ibn Sina noted a fluttering in the Prince's pulse when the address and name of his beloved were mentioned. The great doctor had a simple remedy: unite the sufferer with the beloved.
The Arabic text of the Qanun was published in Rome in 1593 and was therefore one of the earliest Arabic books to see print. It was translated into Latin by Gerard of Cremona in the 12th century. This 'Canon', with its encyclopaedic content, its systematic arrangement and philosophical plan, soon worked its way into a position of pre-eminence in the medical literature of the age displacing the works of Galen, al-Razi and al-Majusi, and becoming the text book for medical education in the schools of Europe. In the last 30 years of the 15th century it passed through 15 Latin editions and one Hebrew. In recent years, a partial translation into English was made. From the 12th-17th century, the Qanun served as the chief guide to Medical Science in the West and is said to have influenced Leonardo da Vinci. In the words of Dr. William Osler, the Qanun has remained "a medical bible for a longer time than any other work".
Despite such glorious tributes to his work, Ibn Sina is rarely remembered in the West today and his fundamental contributions to Medicine and the European reawakening goes largely unrecognised. However, in the museum at Bukhara, there are displays showing many of his writings, surgical instruments from the period and paintings of patients undergoing treatment. An impressive monument to the life and works of the man who became known as the 'doctor of doctors' still stands outside Bukhara museum and his portrait hangs in the Hall of the Faculty of Medicine in the University of Paris.

ABU RAIHAN AL-BIRUNI

2009-04-24T06:10:00.000-07:00

Abu Raihan Mohammad Ibn Ahmad al-Biruni was one of the well-known figures associated with the court of King Mahmood Ghaznawi, who was one of the famous Muslim kings of the 11th century C.E. Al-Biruni was a versatile scholar and scientist who had equal facility in physics, metaphysics, mathematics, geography and history. Born in the city of Kheva near "Ural" in 973 C.E., he was a contemporary of the well-known physician Ibn Sina. At an early age, the fame of his scholarship went around and when Sultan Mahmood Ghaznawi conquered his homeland, he took al-Biruni along with him in his journeys to India several times and thus he had the opportunity to travel all over India during a period of 20 years. He learnt Hindu philosophy, mathematics, geography and religion from thre Pandits to whom he taught Greek and Arabic science and philosophy. He died in 1048 C.E. at the age of 75, after having spent 40 years in thus gathering knowledge and making his own original contributions to it.
He recorded observations of his travels through India in his well-known book Kitab al-Hind which gives a graphic account of the historical and social conditions of the sub-continent. At the end of this book he makes a mention of having translated two Sanskrit books into Arabic, one called Sakaya, which deals with the creation of things and their types, and the second, Patanjal dealing with what happens after the spirit leaves the body. His descriptions of India were so complete that even the Aein-i-Akbari written by Abu-al- Fadal during the reign of Akbar, 600 years later, owes a great deal to al-Biruni's book. He observed that the Indus valley must be considered as an ancient sea basin filled up with alluvials.
On his return from India, al-Biruni wrote his famous book Qanun-i Masoodi (al-Qanun al-Masudi, fi al-Hai'a wa al-Nujum), which he dedicated to Sultan Masood. The book discusses several theories of astronomy, trigonometry, solar, lunar, and planetary motions and relative topics. In another well-known book al-Athar al-Baqia, he has attempted a connected account of ancient history of nations and the related geographical knowledge. In this book, he has discussed the rotation of the earth and has given correct values of latitudes and longitudes of various places. He has also made considerable contribution to several aspects of physical and economic geography in this book.
His other scientific contributions include the accurate determination of the densities of 18 different stones. He also wrote the Kitab-al-Saidana, which is an extensive materia medica that combines the then existing Arabic knowledge on the subject with the Indian medicine. His book the Kitab-al-Jamahir deals with the properties of various precious stones. He was also an astrologer and is reputed to have astonished people by the accuracy of his predictions. He gave a clear account of Hindu numerals, elaborating the principle of position. Summation of a geometric progression appropos of the chess game led to the number:
1616° - 1 = 18,446,744,073,709,551,619.
He developed a method for trisection of angle and other problems which cannot be solved with a ruler and a compass alone. Al-Biruni discussed, centuries before the rest of the world, the question whether the earth rotates around its axis or not. He was the first to undertake experiments related to astronomical phenomena. His scientific method, taken together with that of other Muslim scientists, such as Ibn al-Haitham, laid down the early foundation of modern science. He ascertained that as compared with the speed of sound the speed of light is immense. He explained the working of natural springs and artesian wells by the hydrostatic principle of communicating vessels. His investigations included description of various monstrosities, including that known as "Siamese" twins. He observed that flowers have 3,4,5,6, or 18 petals, but never 7 or 9.
He wrote a number of books and treatises. Apart from Kitab-al- Hind (History and Geography of India), al-Qanun al-Masudi (Astro- nomy, Trigonometry), al-Athar al-Baqia (Ancient History and Geography), Kitab al-Saidana (Materia Medica) and Kitab al-Jawahir (Precious Stones) as mentioned above, his book al-Tafhim-li-Awail Sina'at al-Tanjim gives a summary of mathematics and astronomy.
He has been considered as one of the very greatest scientists of Islam, and, all considered, one of the greatest of all times. His critical spirit, love of truth, and scientific approach were combined with a sense of toleration. His enthusiasm for knowledge may be judged from his claim that the phrase Allah is Omniscient does not justify ignorance.

Aristotle

2009-04-24T05:59:00.001-07:00

Aristotle is the Great philosopher who had a vast knowledge in different disciplines. Studying different subject he contributed a lot in each of those subjects. He contributed in physics, poetry, zoology, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, and biology. This laurel Greek philosopher was born in Stagira in 384 BC. His father Nicomachus was a physician to the king Amyntas III of Macedon’s court and it is believed that their ancestors also held this position. Earlier in his life he was taught by his father at home and the medical knowledge he got from his father led him to investigate natural phenomenon later on. At the age of 18 he admitted in to the young Greek aristocracy run by Plato, another Great Greek philosopher, and Aristotle became the most favorite student of Plato.
As a scientist Aristotle made a good contribution which was very influential for the development of the science over the year. Mainly he spent most of his life researching the natural science and he did the researches without making reference to the Mathematics which was later proven as the weakness of his research by the scientists. His natural science oriented research includes botany, zoology, physics, astronomy, chemistry, and meteorology, geometry and many more. He was also the teacher of the Great warrior Alexander the Great. This great philosopher died n 322 BC.

Sir Isaac Newton

2009-04-24T05:58:00.001-07:00

Newton was also a man of versatile quality. He was physicist, mathematician, astronomer, alchemist, and natural philosopher in a row. His contribution in the development of science is a special one. He I best known for his explanation of Universal Gravitation and three laws of motion, and he was able to prove that the reason of both the motion of objects on Earth and of celestial bodies are controlled by the same Neutral laws. These findings could make a revolutionary change in the development of science. In mechanical science his great contribution was in optics. He could make a reflecting telescope. He also made some research on light and stars. His research on General binomial Theorem helped to be introduced today’s Calculus.
Newton was born to a farmer family but before three months of his birth his father died and then he was brought up to his maternal grandmother as her mother remarried. Newton could show his talent from his early life in The King’s School in Grantham and later he joined to the Cambridge University where he took his higher degrees.

Galileo Galilei

2009-04-24T05:57:00.001-07:00

Galileo is considered as one of the greatest contributor to the development of Science. It is undoubtedly true that Galileo could first helped science to come out of the trend of Aristotle. He was physicist, astronomer, and philosopher and his best known contributions lie in the development of Telescope, first two laws of motion and also in Astronomy. He is also considered as the father of astronomy, father of physics and father of science.
He was born to a mathematician and musician father Vincenzo Galilei and his mother was Giulia Ammannati in Italy. He was taught form his very early life. He was the first scientist who followed the way of quantitative experiments in his research where the result was based on mathematics. He had to suffer a lot from the church for his theories.

Charles Robert Darwin

2009-04-24T05:56:00.001-07:00

There can be debate about whether Charles Darwin (12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) is the greatest scientist of all time but there is no doubt that he is the most controversial scientist of all time. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (1859)- this is the book that has made Darwin immortal in the world history. This book has changed the course of science radically. It is perhaps an irony that Darwin studied theology and instead of becoming a clergy, he became naturalist.
Darwin went to different parts of the world and carried out extensive research. His theory about origin of human beings caused widespread controversy. Darwin stated that human beings have evolved through many changes and survival of the fittest was in important factor in the development of animal world. Darwin’s theory still causes passionate debate among his supporters and opponents.

Albert Einstein

2009-04-24T05:55:00.001-07:00

Einstein is the great scientist of the twentieth century and notable physicist of all time. It is told that he had learning disability in his childhood. He could not talk till he was three and could not read till he was eight. Despite such problems he later became the noble prize winner for his contribution to the Physics. His theory of relativity is considered as a revolutionary development of Physics. He got Noble Prize in Physics in 1921 for his explanation of the Photoelectric Effect and for his research in Theoretical physics

Thomas Edison

2009-04-24T05:54:00.001-07:00

Edison is the great inventor who has over 1000 patents and his inventions are in various fields used in our daily life. In his early life he was thought to have a learning disability and he could not read till he was twelve and later he himself admitted that he became deaf after pulling up to a train car by his ears. He first could able to turn the attention of the world after inventing Phonograph. His one of the most popular invention is the Electric Bulb. He also developed the telegraph system. His invention of carbon telephone transmitter developed the carbon microphone which was used in the telephoned till 1980. He also became a prominent businessman and his business institution produced his inventions and marketed the products to the general people.

Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta

2009-04-24T05:53:00.001-07:00

Volta was Italian physicist and he is best known for his contribution to the development of electric battery. This benevolent scientist is also regarded as one of the founder of the electric age. His parents sent him to the Jesuit school intending to make him a Jurist. He also taught in the University of Pavia for 25 year. After that in 1800 he could make voltaic pile which could produce steady electric current. He then worked on to develop the electric bulb. For his work in the electric development he was given a count by Napoleon. Emperor of Austria honored him naming him a professor of Philosophy at Padova. For his honor an electric unit Volt was named after him.

Stephen Hawking

2009-04-24T05:52:00.001-07:00

This famous scientist is considered as the greatest scientist of the twentieth century after Einstein. Haw king’s big bang theory and black hole theory has turned the attention of the world. He is the professor of Mathematics of the University of Cambridge. Though he is now about to be paralyzed, he is teaching through a computer supported a machine by which his world are compiled. His physical illness could not make him stop form his research. His famous book is “A Brief History of Time”.

Louis Pasteur

2009-04-24T05:51:00.001-07:00

He is one of the most famous contributors in the medical science. He first introduced the germ theory of diseases. This is regarded as the base of today’s microbiology. He found out some of the notion of the microbe and he could find out that the viruses were not detectable through microscope. Another important contribution of Pasteur is to protect harmful microbes in a way called “Pasteurization” where harmful microbes are destroyed by hitting the food. He is undoubtedly the most influential scientist in medical science.

Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose

2009-04-24T05:50:00.001-07:00

He was the first renowned Bengali scientist who had an important contribution in the invention of Radio and microwave optics. He was born in Mymensingh in Bengal which is the current Munshiganj District in Bangladesh. He studied in Hare school in Kolkata and then he got his B.A. in Science degree from Calcutta University. Then he went to England and got a B.A. degree from Cambridge University and a B.Sc. from London University. After coming back to the country he started teaching Physics in the Presidency College at Kolkata. In his teaching career he had to prove his quality and talent as he was the first Indian to teach Science at the college. In 1894 he started to research on Radio wave to make wireless communication equipments. At the same time Italy’s Marconi also was researching on this project. He first invented "iron-mercury-iron coherer with telephone detector" and he is the first person to use a semiconductor junction to catch the radio waves. It is said that his work on millimeter wavelength made him 50 years ahead. Considering such things it is said that he was the real inventor of Radio but due to his less seriousness towards patent and the communication gap made Marconi to be regarded as the inventor of Radio.
After that he contributed in plant where he could make some vital theory of ascent of sap. In this research he showed that some living cells in the endodermis junction are the reason for the ascent of sap.

Guglielmo Marchese Marconi

2009-04-24T05:44:00.000-07:00

Marconi is a Nobel laureate physicist from Italy. He is best known for his invention of Radio and he first introduced wireless telegraph system. He was born to a landowner father Giuseppe Marconi and his mother was Annie Jameson. He was very interested to science form his early life. He initially started working on electromagnetic wave or radio waves invented by Heinrich Hertz. Then after a long research he could figure out such a technology to communicate without wire. After his invention, he marketed this equipment for the commercial purpose and at that time he got a competitor free market in the U.S.

Havaldaar Lalak Jan Shaheed :

2009-04-24T05:42:00.001-07:00

Hav. Lalak Jan of the Northern Light Infantry (NLI) was one of those many who as a junior leader fought from the forefront to thwart heavy Indian attacks. He volunteered himself to be deployed on the front positions located at the jagged peak in May 1999.
Hav. Lalak driven back many aggressive ventures by the enemy and imposed colossal losses on them. On July 7, Hav. Lalak sustained serious injuries as enemies pounded the area with heavy mortar shelling.
But despite being injured, he retained his position and frustrated the Indian assault. He, however, succumbed to his injuries at the same post he was defending. Hav.
Lalak was awarded with the Nishan-i-Haider for his dauntless courage and devotion

Jawan Sawar Muhammad Hussain Shaheed

2009-04-24T05:41:00.001-07:00

Born 18th June 1949 in Dhok Pir Baksh (now Dhok Mohammad Husain Janjua).Enlisted as a driver on 3 September 1966.
Although only a driver in the 20th Lancers, when war broke out in 1971, Sowar Mohammad Hussein took an active part in every battle in which his unit was engaged unmindful of any danger, no matter how grave.
When he spotted the enemy digging in along a minefield near the village of Harar Khurd in December 1971 on his own initiative he directed accurate fire at the enemy resulting in the destruction of sixteen enemy tanks.
But while directing fire from recoilless rifles, he was hit in the chest by a burst of machine-gun fire and died on 10 December 1971 at the age of 22

Pilot Office Rashid Minhas Shaheed :

2009-04-24T05:40:00.002-07:00

Born 17 February 1951Ccommissioned as a pilot in the Pakistan Air Force.
Pilot Officer Minhas was taxiing for take-off on a routine traning flight when an Instructor Pilot forced his way into the rear cockpit, seized control of the aircraft and took off. When Minhas realized that the absconding pilot was heading towards India, he tried to regain control of the plane but was unable to do so.
Knowing that it meant certin death, he damaged tha controls and forced the aircraft to crash thirty two miles short of the border on 20 August 1971. He died at the age of 20

Major Raja Aziz Bhatti Shaheed :

2009-04-24T05:40:00.001-07:00

Born 1928 in Hong Kong. Commissioned into the Punjab Regiment, 1950.
On 6 September 1965, as Company Commander in the Burki area of the Lahore sector, Major Bhatti chose to move with his forward platton under incessant artillery and tank attacks for five days and nights in the defence of the strategic BRB canal.
Throughout, undaunted by constant fire from enemy shell arms, tanks and artillery, he organized the defence of the canal, directing his men to answer the fire until he was hit by an enemy tank shell which killed him on 10 September 1965. He was 37 years old

Major Tufail Muhammad Shaheed

2009-04-24T05:39:00.001-07:00

Born 1914 in Hoshiarpur. Commissioned into the 16th Punjab Regiment, 1943.
Early in August, 1958, Major Tufail, a Company Commander in the East Pakistan Rifles, and his patrol encircled an Indian post in the Lakshmipur area. And, though mortally wounded in the hand-to-hand encounter that followed, Major Tufail continued to lead his troops till the Indians were driven out, leaving four dead and three prisoners.
He died the same day on 7 August 1958 at the age of 44

Captain Muhammad Sarwer Shaheed:

2009-04-24T05:38:00.001-07:00

Born 1910, Village SanghoriCommissioned into the Punjab Regiment, 1944.
During the Kashmir Operations soon after the birth of Pakistan, as Company Commander in the 2nd Battalion of the Punjab Regiment, Captain Sarwar launched an attack causing heavy casualties against a strongly fortified enemy position in the Uri Sector under heavy machine-gun, grenade and mortar fire.
But on 27 July 1948, as he moved forward with six of his men to cut their way through a barbed wire barrier, he died when his chest was riddled by a burst of automatic fire. He was 38 years old.

Paul Bogle

2009-04-24T05:37:00.001-07:00

Paul Bogle, it is believed, was born free about 1822. He was a Baptist deacon in Stony Gut, a few miles north of Morant Bay, and was eligible to vote at a time when there were only 104 voters in the parish of St. Thomas. He was a firm political supporter of George William Gordon.Poverty and injustice in the society and lack of public confidence in the central authority, urged Bogle to lead a protest march to the Morant Bay courthouse on October 11, 1865. In a violent confrontation with full official forces that followed the march, nearly 500 people were killed and a greater number was flogged and punished before order was restored.
Bogle was captured and hanged on October 24, 1865; but his forceful demonstration achieved its objectives. It paved the way for the establishment of just practices in the courts and it brought about a change in official attitude, which made possible the social and economic betterment of the people.

Norman Washington Manley

2009-04-24T05:35:00.000-07:00

Norman Washington Manley was born at Roxborough, Manchester, on July 4, 1893. He was a brilliant scholar and athlete, soldier (First World War) and lawyer. He identified himself with the cause of the workers at the time of the labour troubles of 1938 and donated time and advocacy to the cause.In September 1938, Manley founded the People's National Party (PNP) and was elected its President annually until his retirement in 1969, 31 years later.Manley and the PNP supported the trade union movement, then led by Alexander Bustamante, while leading the demand for Universal Adult Suffrage. When Suffrage came, Manley had to wait ten years and two terms before his party was elected to office.He was a strong advocate of the Federation of the West Indies, established in 1958, but when Sir Alexander Bustamante declared that the opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), would take Jamaica out of the Federation, Norman Manley, already renowned for his integrity and commitment to democracy, called a Referendum, unprecedented in Jamaica, to let the people decide.The vote was decisively against Jamaica's continued membership of the Federation. Norman Manley, after arranging Jamaica's orderly withdrawal from the union, set up a joint committee to decide on a constitution for separate Independence for Jamaica.He himself chaired the committee with great distinction and then led the team that negotiated the island's Independence from Britain. The issue settled, Manley again went to the people. He lost the ensuing election to the JLP and gave his last years of service as Leader of the Opposition, establishing definitively the role of the Parliamentary Opposition in a developing nation.In his last public address to an annual conference of the PNP, he said: "I say that the mission of my generation was to win self-government for Jamaica, to win political power which is the final power for the black masses of my country from which I spring. I am proud to stand here today and say to you who fought that fight with me, say it with gladness and pride, mission accomplished for my generation."And what is the mission of this generation? ... It is... reconstructing the social and economic society and life of Jamaica". Norman Manley died on September 2. 1969.

Alexander Bustamante

2009-04-24T05:33:00.000-07:00

When Alexander Bustamante began to make his presence felt in Jamaica, the country was still a Crown Colony. Under this system, the Governor had, the right to veto at all times, which he very often exercised against the wishes of the majority.Bustamante was quick to realise that the social and economic ills that such a system engendered, had to be countered by mobilisation of the working class.Pay and working conditions were poor in the 1920s and 1930s. Failing harvests and the lay-off of workers resulted in an influx of unemployed people, moving from the rural areas into the city. This mass migration did little to alleviate the already tremendous unemployment problem.Bustamante first impressed his name on the society with a series of letters to The Gleaner and occasionally to British newspapers, calling attention to the social and economic problems of the poor and underprivileged in Jamaica.The years 1937 and 1938 brought the outbreak of widespread discontent and social unrest. In advocating the cause of the masses, Bustamante became the undisputed champion of the working class. He also confronted the power of the Colonial Governor, declaring, "Long live the King! But Denham must go."During the troublesome days of 1938, the security forces were everywhere eyeball to eyeball with Bustamante and the workers. Labour unrests continued on and off.On September 8, 1940, Bustamante was detained at Up Park Camp, for alleged violation of the Defence of the Realm Act. He was released seventeen months later.In 1943 he founded the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), with himself as head. The first general election under Universal Adult Suffrage came in 1944 and the JLP won 22 of the 32 seats.Sir Alexander became the first Prime Minister of Independent Jamaica in 1962. He retired from active politics in 1967. He died on August 6,1977, at the age of 93.