Tribute To Arifa Karim

She was a Pakistani student and got an exceptional talent in computer science. She became the youngest Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) in the world at the age of nine in 2004. She kept the title of MCP until 2008.

She was invited by Bill Gates to visit Microsoft Headquarters in USA at the age of ten, when she asked Bill Gates why the company doesn’t hire people of her age? How many women work in his company? Games should be made by children’s as they can feel it.

Achievements:

In 2005, Arfa got Fatimah Jinnah Gold Medal  in the field of Science and Technology, presented by the Prime Minister of Pakistan at that time.

In the same year, she got Salaam Pakistan Youth Award  by the President of Pakistan.

Arfa is also the youngest receiver of the Award for Pride of Performance, which is a civil award granted to people showing excellence in their respective fields.

Arfa Karim has represented Pakistan on various international forums, and was invited by the Pakistan Information Technology Professionals Forum for a stay of two weeks in Dubai.

During the same tour she also flew a plane in a flying club at the age of 10 and received the first flight certificate.

In 2006, she was the only Pakistani among 5000 developers in Tech-Ed Developers Conference themed Get ahead of the Game held in Barcelona on an invitation from Microsoft.

Death:

She suffered from Cardiac arrest after an epileptic seizure on December 22, 2011 and in this critical situation, she was admitted to Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in Lahore, Pakistan. On January 9, 2012 Bill Gates directed doctors to adopt “every kind of measure” to treat her.

On 13 January 2012, Arfa Karim started to improve and some parts of her brain showed signs of improvement. Her father, Amjad Karim Randhawa, said Microsoft had raised the possibility of flying Arfa to the US for care

 But it was in fate that she died On 14 January 2012, 16-year-old Arfa Karim died at 9:50 PM (Pakistan Standard Time) at Combined Military Hospital (CMH) Lahore. Her Namaz-e-Janaza was offered in Cavalry Ground Lahore at 10 AM on 15 January 2012, and later at Faisalabad the same day. The funeral was attended by the Chief Minister of Punjab, Shahbaz Sharif. She was buried at her ancestral village Chak No. 4JB Ram Dewali, Faisalabad.

Arfa Softwear Technology Park:

On 15 January 2012, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif announced that the name of Lahore Technology Park would be changed to Arfa Software Technology Park

Her Message:

Arfa Karim Randhawa born in 1995 in Faisalabad  and died on January 14, 2012 in Lahore.

May ALLAH rest her soul in peace. (Aameen)