On behalf of the University of Texas at Austin and the Pakistani community in USA, Iqbal Sheikh, presented the formal announcement of the permanent Pakistan Studies Chair to the President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari, during a dinner hosted by the Ambassador of Pakistan, Hussain Haqqani, in Washington.
President Asif Ali Zardari appreciated the contribution and efforts by the University of Texas, Temple Foundation and the Pakistani Americans to make it happen and congratulated the community on this great achievement.
The Chair has been set up at the College of Liberal Arts at the Austin Campus of the University of Texas named after the famous hero of the war against the Soviet Union, Congressman from Texas, Representative Charlie Wilson, a great friend of Pakistan. Over one million dollars have been raised, more than half by the Pakistani community in America, to set up this first privately funded permanent Chair.
Professor Randy L. Diehl, Dean College of Liberal Arts, who supervised the whole project, says the Charlie Wilson Chair would bridge the gap of misunderstanding between Pakistan and the US, especially now that the two countries are allies in the all-important global war against terrorism. Iqbal Sheikh, President and CEO of CyberTex, who led this fund raising drive, paid tributes to all the donors and those who worked tirelessly to make this project a success.
He thanked the Consul General of Pakistan in Houston, Muhammad Aqil Nadeem, for extending his fullest support to this fundraising and thanked the community leaders, Khalid Khan, Ghulam Bombay wala, Dr Barkat Charania, Haroon Shaikh, Saeed Shaikh, Nomi Hussain and Dr Yaqoob Shaikh from Houston and Tahir Javed and Dr Tariq Aziz from Beaumont Texas, for their great efforts to make it happen. The Chair will go a long way to raise the level of understanding about Pakistan in the US and try to correct the negative image of Pakistan. It will be the first concrete achievement of the Pakistani community to serve their home country in a positive and constructive manner in the United States.
The fund raising drive was conducted totally by individual and private resources and funds were raised and deposited directly by the donors with the University of Texas at Austin. It has been the first such exclusive endeavour of the Pakistani community. The University of Texas at Austin will soon issue international advertisements to appoint a suitably qualified scholar to head the Chair.-PR