"I will not lose for even in defeat, there's a valuable lesson learned so it evens up for me."
"...I'm not afraid of dying. I'm afraid of not trying..."

Sania Khan was born on September 15, 1985 at Jeddah and moved to Toronto, Canada when she was just 3 years old. She has her family roots in Dera Ghazi Khan.

In 2007, Sania decided to start participating in a lot of community work including volunteering at seniors homes, food banks, local mosques, and for political parties. Sania soon felt that the places she was volunteering were solutions for a much bigger problem. Sania felt that seniors needed a more dignified life and should be able to have means to live and survive comfortably in their homes. She felt that food banks were temporary solutions for a much bigger long term problem of poverty. Sania then started working for bigger organizations that tackled the bigger issues. After winning over the leaders of many of these groups they had pushed her to run politically in order to really have a platform to make the changes that Sania wanted to see.

In 2008, Sania ran for the NDP (New Democratic Party) in the area of Scarborough-Guildwood, in Ontario in the federal elections. Although Sania only had 3 weeks to run a full federal campaign because of the short election call and late nomination, Sania ended up receiving more than 14% of the vote of the area. Sania has worked with and given speeches alongside some of Canada’s top politicians and on some of Canada’s top news shows.

Bano Qudsia SI, HI [1], (Punjabi, Urdu: بانو قدسیه) (born 1928) is a writer, intellectual, playwright and spiritualist from Pakistan who is regarded among the best Urdu novelists and short story writers of modern times. She is best known for her novel Raja Gidh. She writes for television and stage in both Urdu and Punjabi languages. She is the wife of famous novelist Ashfaq Ahmed.
Bano Qudsia is recognized as a trendsetter in the realm of television plays. Some of them gained immense popularity across the border because of their vitality, warmth and courage. Strife is one word she would like to banish from the dictionary. She attributes the hostilities raging across the world to the Intolerance and selfishness of the human race.

Life

Bano moved with her family to Lahore during the Partition of India. Her father, a landlord with a Bachelor's degree in agriculture, died when Bano was very young. She attended school in Dharamsala in eastern India before moving to Lahore. Her mother was an educationist, and this inspired the young Bano to develop a keen interest in academics, which turned her into a conscientious student. Her marriage to Ashfaque Ahmad consummated the artist in her, though she says she never discusses any of her works with her husband nor has the writer-spouse ever tried to influence her writings. "We work very independently. Writing a book is like bearing a child and you do not share that with anyone. God is your only confidant. It is also like falling in love. You keep it personal and private."

Education

Bano says she has had a passion for writing for as long as she can remember. As a student, she wrote for college magazines and other journals. Her memories of her days at Kinnaird College in Lahore, from where she graduated, are still quite vivid. She talks of the literary inspiration that was a hallmark at Kinnaird's campuses during those days. Though her stay at Kinnaird went a long way in sharpening her scholarly skills, Bano felt an incessant need to polish her expressions in Urdu, the only language with which she could reach the minds of the people. So in 1951, she completed her M.A. degree in Urdu from the Government College Lahore with distinction.

Works and Honors

Author of innumerable short stories, novelettes, television and radio plays, besides some memorable stage plays, Bano's writings have a strong association with life's vicissitudes.
The strength of conviction in her prose is unmistakable. Her short stories like Baz Gasht, Amar Bail, Doosra Darwaza and Twajju ki Talib, the latter, a stimulating collection of short stories, have mustered a vast readership. Of her novels, none has received as much recognition as Raja Gidh which centers around the forbidden truth. The plot builds around the symbol of a vulture, a bird of prey, that feeds on dead flesh and carcasses. The moral sought implies that indulgence in the forbidden leads to physical and mental degeneration.
Some of her best plays include Tamasil, Hawa key Naam, Seharay and Khaleej. The plight of women and other socio-economic issues have often been the subject of her television serials that have inspired families wherever they have been aired. The Graduate Award for Best Playwright was conferred on Bano in 1986, followed by the same award for three consecutive years from 1988 to 1990. In 1986, she was also given the Taj Award for Best Playwright. Bano can expound endlessly on the myriad aspects of life without risking to bore her audience. Her articulation and diction add to the charm of her discourse.
Rather critical of the deviation of today's woman from her natural role of mother and home keeper, Bano decries what she terms 'a woman's unsolicited and disoriented escape from responsibility.' Interestingly, though, she blames men for plotting a conspiracy to push women out of the house, her only domain. "And women fall easy prey to this trap. Men of the post-industrialization era gave women a taste of luxurious lifestyles and then instigated them to step out of the house and earn that lifestyle. The woman developed a taste for what she thought was freedom for her, but which actually bonded her as a labourer and a breadwinner."
She cites the example of the woman who does the dishes in her home. "This woman is more liberated than your modern women, since she does not suffer from any conflicts of the 'self'. Poverty is all that hurts her and she is not caught in a rat race to prove something to herself or carve out an identity for herself. Her existence is identity enough." Bano also feels that what she calls women's 'strength of softness' has been lost in their struggle to prove themselves equal to men. What women take as their weaknesses are in fact their strengths, she believes.
Bano Qudsia planned to co-author a book with her (now late) husband. Her obligations towards her family are much more important for her than her work. "My husband (now late), my three sons and daughter-in-law have all been very kind to me and have always showered their affections on me. So, how can I ever put anything else before them?"
Having lived a fulfilling life, which Bano ascribes to the benevolence of those around her, she kept herself busy caring for her husband, the writer Ashfaque Ahmad. She is now working on her present literary undertaking - a novel which she plans to title Dastan Serai, after her home. "I formally started work on this novel in 1992. Prior to this, I had worked on it during the 1950s. The novel is set against the backdrop of Partition and revolves around the theme of intention and motivation. It highlights the importance of intention as the key determinant behind every act."

Shakir started writing at an early age, initially under the pen name of Beena, and published her first volume of poetry, Khushbu [Fragrance], to great acclaim, in 1976.[2] She subsequently published other volumes of poetry - all well-received - including Inkaar [Refusal], Sad-barg [Marsh Marigold], Khud Kalami [Conversing with the Self] and Kaf-e-Aa'ina [The Edge of the Mirror], besides a collection of her newspaper columns, titled Gosha-e-Chashm [The Sight Corner], and was awarded one of Pakistan's highest honours, the Pride of Performance for her outstanding contribution to literature.[2]
Shakir died in 1994, as a result of a car accident while on her way to work.[2] On her death the following "Qit'aa-e-Taareekh" was composed:

Surkh phooloN se Dhaki turbat-e-Parveen hai aaj
Jis ke lahje se har ik samt hai phaili khushboo
Fikr-e-taareekh-e-ajal par yeh kahaa Javed nay
Phool ! kah do "hai yahi baagh-e-adab ki khushboo"
1994 A.D.(numerical value)
(From "Dhuwan Dhuwan Chehray",page 183,by Tanwir Phool)
English translation:The tomb of Parveen is covered with red roses today.Her voice was spreading fragrance everywhere.On thinking about the year of her death,the angel told the poet to say "she is the fragrance of garden of literature."

Shakir's poetry was well-received, and after her untimely death she is now considered one of the best and "most prominent" modern poets Urdu language has ever produced. Hailed as a "great poetess," her poetry has drawn comparisons to that of Iranian poet Forough Farrokhzad, and she is considered among the breed of writers "regarded as pioneers in defying tradition by expressing the "female experience" in Urdu poetry."[5]
A source states, "Parveen ... seems to have captured the best of Urdu verse ... Owing to [her] style and range of expressions one will be intrigued and ... entertained by some soul-stirring poetry." [15] Another praises "her rhythmic flow and polished wording."[3]
Literary figure Iftikhar Arif has praised Shakir for impressing "the young lot through her thematic variety and realistic poetry," for adding "a new dimension to the traditional theme of love by giving expression to her emotions in a simple and pellucid style," and using a "variety of words to convey different thoughts with varying intensities."[5]
The Delhi Recorder has stated that Shakir "has given the most beautiful female touch to Urdu poetry."

He was born in Faisalabad, (formerly Lyallpur), British India. He trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London from 1953-1956. After stage roles in Long Day's Journey Into Night and Julius Caesar, he made his West End debut in A Passage to India in 1960. He made his film debut in Lawrence of Arabia in 1963, playing the role of Tafas (the Arab guide who is shot by Omar Sharif for drinking water from the wrong well.). He then made numerous TV and film appearances, and starred as Dr Aziz in the 1965 BBC television version of A Passage to India.
He returned to Pakistan in the late 1960s. There he founded and ran the PIA Arts and Dance Academy, and hosted his own TV talk show. Around this time he met and subsequently (in 1973) married the classical dancer Naheed Siddiqui. However after difficulties with the regime Mohyeddin returned to England in the late 1970s, shortly followed by his wife. During the 1980s Zia worked in Birmingham, Great Britain, where he produced Central Television's flagship multicultural programme 'Here and Now'.
He resumed his acting career in Europe, appearing in small roles in various movies and television programs. He has since traveled the world giving Urdu poetry and prose recitations. In the late 1990s, Zia remarried, and had a daughter with his wife, Azra. In February 2005 President Pervez Musharraf invited Mohyeddin to act as Chairman of the new National Academy of Performing Arts in Karachi.
To this date despite of his growing age, Zia is still active among Pakistani media as a speaker and hosts several TV programs both for National and Private Channels. He is also involved in narrating some abstract short films and commercials