Jawad Ahmad ( Central Committee Member )
Jawad Ahmad was born in a very well educated family. His parents are retired Professors in Political Science and taught the subject in Government College University Lahore (G.C.U) and Lahore College University for women. He did his O levels from Cathedral School Lahore, F.Sc. from Government College Lahore and received his degree in mechanical engineering from University of Engineering and Technology (UET), Lahore. He was the president of the Music Society in UET which led him to serious consideration of adopting Music as a profession. He played 1st class cricket in Pakistan including Under 19 and Wills Cup and captained the cricket team of UET.
As a musician his 1st album dates back to Jun to January 2000 and is called "Bol Tujhe Kia Chahiye". His 2nd album "Uchayan Majajan Aali"was released in 2001 and his 3rd album, "Jind Jan Soniyein" in 2003. He is the only Pop Artist in Pakistan who has directed the music scores for movies also. So far, he has directed music for three movies, "Moosa Khan", "Main Ik Din Laut Kay Aaoon Ga" and "Virsa", in which he was also a co-producer. It was the first collaborative project between Pakistan and India in the history of cinema.
He is the founder and chairman of "Taaleem for All Trust" which is currently running 14 non formal, (one teacher one room) schools in three of the most backward and under-developed areas of Pakistan, i.e. in Chunian, Chung and one to be in Goel.
Awards:
He was awarded {Correction: Sitara-e-Imtiaz to Sitara-e-Eesar} in recognition of his community services and Tamgha-e-Imtiaz for his contributions in the field of music by the President of Pakistan. He was also given "Polio Award" for his impressive services for the eradication of Polio as the Ambassador for Polio by the Ministry of Health and UNICEF. He has been awarded PTV and numerous other national and international awards in acknowledgement of his services for music industry.
Dr Shahnaz Khan ( Central Committee Member )
Dr. Shahnaz Khan has been practicing Family Medicine in Florida since 1983. She has always been active in all causes affecting Pakistanis. She is one of the founding members of the Pakistani American Association of Tampa Bay. She was also on the board of PAKPAC which is a lobbying organization for Pakistani causes in the US. She has also been actively involved in APPNA and is one of the founding members of the Florida Chapter of APPNA and was past president of the Fatima Jinnah Medical College Alumni.
She has always wanted to work towards improving the lives of the people in Pakistan and has tried to do it through various charitable organizations. She was on the board of the Society for International HELP (Health, Education and Literacy Program) that has educational projects in Pakistan. She is one of the founding members of the Human Development Foundation (HDF) and was its chairperson for few years. HDF is a not for profit organization and has development projects in Pakistan. But after spending many years in this direction, it became clear to her that the only way to make any substantial difference is to bring about some structural changes in the current system.Her dream for Pakistan is to see it as a country where all people are treated equally, respectfully and with dignity, are free of hunger, illiteracy and poverty, are free to express their view without any fear, are equal partners in all the resources the country has to offer, where rule of law is followed and justice is dispensed. She believes that this can only be achieved by mobilizing the young people and thus her involvement in Rise for Pakistan. She has always wanted to write and so lately she has been contributing articles to The Nation and Pakistan Today.
Tariq Shahzad ( Central Committee Member & National Organizer )
Tariq Shahzad is a young and progressive political activist who has been working for the oppressed and marginalized classes of the society for the past sixteen years and has acted as an agent of change in various capacities. He was active in the left wing of youth organization, "Young Fighters" which aimed to address youth’s problems.
He is a founding member of Labor Party of Pakistan (LPP), which was set up in 1997 and was the youngest member elected to its National Organization Committee in 1999 and then was given the responsibility of editing LPP’s Weekly, "Mazdoor Jeddojuhd". He took the responsibility to build the youth wing of the party, which later formed the Progressive Youth Front in 2002. He started "Mazdoor Carvan" a monthly paper in 2004, with some likeminded friends. In 2005 he played a crucial role in organizing a national congress and was unanimously elected the first general secretary.
Throughout his political career he has worked as a full time revolutionary and played an active role in all progressive and civil rights movements from 1997 till present, especially to repeal the Hudood Ordinance, minority, women, youth and worker’s rights.
He was also active in Allince for Democracy (ARD). He played an active role in Anjuman Muzareen Pujab’s movement for political education of their leadership and tried to mobilize support for their rights of land ownership in trade unions and progressive political groups and parties.
He has written large number of articles, documents, leaflets and handbills on socio-political, economic, philosophical and international issues.
Maqsood Mujahid ( Central Committee Member )
Shahzad Arshad ( Central Committee Member )
Shahzad Arshad is a young progressive political activist and social scientist who has been working for oppressed and marginalized classes of the society and acted as an agent of change in different capacities. He is active in different youth projects and also member of Awami workers party.He was active in the lawyers’ movement,and trade union movement in pakistan, also played active role in the progressive and civil rights movements from 1998 till present, especially to repeal the Hudood Ordinance, minority, women and youth rights
His research is on the post-colonial state, globalization, international politics, trade union movement and political Islam. He has published article in journals and newspapers. He is presently working on the book “politics of change in Pakistan”.
Gulam Akbar ( Central Committee Member )
Umer Baloch ( Central Committee Member )
Dr Rubina Inyat ( Central Committee Member )
Rubina Inayat is a physician specializing in adult, child and adolescent psychiatry. She is graduate of Fatima Jinnah Medical College and completed her residency at University of Connecticut and fellowship at Brown University, Rhode Island. Currently she practices in Orlando, Florida.
She has been actively involved in the Association of Physicians of Pakistani Descent of North America (APPNA) for the cause of young physicians and in various charitable projects in USA and Pakistan. She has played a major role in collecting and sending millions of dollars worth of orthopedic and other medical supplies to the earthquake stricken areas in 2005-06 from the platform of APPNA.
She is the past president of the Fatima Jinnah Medical College Alumni Association and founding president of Association of Pakistani Americans of Central Florida and has been involved in many community projects in USA and Pakistan. She has not only helped raise funds for the flood affectees of 2010 and 2011 but also assisted in projects of bringing safe and clean drinking water to the affected areas. She has an avid supporter of HDF USA and Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital through fund raising efforts. She was given Citizen Citation award by the Mayor of Providence, Rhode Island for her community services.
In spite of living in USA she is deeply connected with her roots and wants to contribute towards a positive change in Pakistan. She feels that Pakistan can flourish and prosper if only its people become educated, united and follow rule of law. The youth of Pakistan have the most important role to play in this regard but they need to be given a positive direction and inspired to think and act constructively and progressively. Her involvement in Rise for Pakistan is motivated by the fact that this platform is geared towards promoting intellectual growth, activism and leadership skills of young people.
Zubair Malik ( Central Committee Member )
