Computer prodigy Arfa Karim dies
Salim Ahmed
Lahore—Computer programming prodigy Arfa Karim Randhawa died at a hospital in Lahore
on Saturday night.
The 16-year-old girl, who seven years ago became the youngest
Microsoft Certified Professional in the world, was on
life support after suffering an epileptic attack. She remained hospitalised for 26 days. Her funeral prayers will be offered at Cavalry Ground in
Lahore Cantt at 10AM today. The software genius will laid to rest in Faisalabad village of Ram Divali.
MicroSoft founder Bill Gates had also
offered special assistance for Arfa’s treatment. But she could not be shifted to the US due to her critical condition. The great Arfa was only
nine years, nine months and 11 days old when she became the world’s youngest Microsoft Certified Professional — a qualification usually
gained by IT professional and software developers — after demonstrating her proficiency with the company’s software. She was invited by
Bill Gates to visit the Microsoft Headquarters in USA. She also wrote a poem about Bill Gates.
On returning to Pakistan, Arfa had numerous
interviews on almost all of the country’s known television channels and newspapers. In August 2005, Arfa Karim received the Fatimah Jinnah Gold
Medal in the field of Science and Technology, presented by the Prime Minister of Pakistan at that time. She also received the Salaam Pakistan Youth
Award again in August 2005 by the President of Pakistan. She is also the recipient of the President’s Award for Pride of Performance. She is the
youngest recipient of that award ever.
Arfa represented Pakistan on various international forums, invited by the IT Professionals of Dubai for
a stay of two weeks in Dubai.
A dinner reception was hosted for her there, which was attended by the diagnostics of Dubai including the
Ambassador of Pakistan. During that trip, Arfa was presented with various medals and awards. She also flew a plane in a flying club in Dubai at the
age of 10, and received the first flight certificate.
In November 2006, Arfa was invited by Microsoft to be a part of the keynote session in
the Tech-Ed Developers conference held in Barcelona.
Print Version |
