Arfa, 16, had an epileptic attack on December 22 and had been in a coma since. Brought to the Combined Military Hospital in Lahore, Arfa showed encouraging signs as recently as a day before she lost the battle for life. As the nation mourned the loss of the young genius, her family took her coffin draped in the national flag to bury her in her ancestral town of Faisalabad.
“We have recently approved a commemorative stamp for her, which will also promote a soft image of Pakistan globally and send out a positive message to the world,” Gilani told reporters on Sunday in Lahore, where he had gone to meet Arfa’s bereaved family.
He said that he understood the real value of what Pakistan had lost since he was the information technology minister and Arfa was a genius of that field. He said that they were considering establishing an institute that will be run by Arfa’s parents.
The Sindh and Punjab government have already announced that information technology parks will be named in Arfa’s memory.
Names for civilian awards are announced on August 14 every year while an award ceremony is held on March 23 at the President’s House in Islamabad. Arfa, who completed her MCP course at the phenomenally young age of nine, was already a recipient of the President’s Award for Pride of Performance and the government’s Fatima Jinnah Gold Medal. She had also been given the Salaam Pakistan Youth Award.
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