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British Council
65 Mozang Road
Lahore, Punjab, 54000
Pakistan

Lakeer ke Fakeer

Musicians

Shams is an ex-PAF GDP and is now committed to making music and his calligraphic exploits. Mariam is a Development Economist, teaching at FC College Lahore. They are Laqeer ke Faqeer, the husband-wife duo of ‘singing poets’.

Amna Zamir

Judge

Amna Zamir joined Gilgit-Baltistan Judiciary in August 2006 after attaining merit 01 in competitive Judicial officer examinations held by the Federal Public Service Commission, Islamabad. Recently, she was promoted to the rank of Additional District and Sessions Judge. Previously, Amna worked as the Civil Judge/Judicial Magistrate and as Senior Civil Judge in Five Districts of Gilgit-Baltistan. With a Degree in Law I-e LL.B from International Islamic University in Islamabad followed by an LL.M Human Rights Law from the University of Leicester in the UK, Amna is well-versed in exercising excellent judicial skills and is a natural leader who has been in this challenging field for over 12 long years.

Aneela Darbar

Neurosurgeon

Dr. Aneela Darbar is currently an Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery and Program Director for Neurosurgery training at the Agha Khan University Hospital, Karachi. She is the first US trained female neurosurgeon of Pakistan. She is a member of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS), Walter Dandy Neurosurgical Society and American Association of Neurosurgeons. She also pioneered the Women in Neurosurgery (WINS) chapter within the Pakistan Society of Neurosurgeons (PSNS) and is currently the Chairperson. She is an avid speaker at local and national conferences and has given more than 100 talks on neurosurgery and women empowerment. She spends her spare time volunteering at charity clinics for the poor and under-served people of Karachi as well as Zanzibar.

Farida Batool

Artist

Farida Batool is an independent artist who explores Pakistan’s political upheavals and tumultuous history. Farida received her BA in Fine Arts from the National College of Arts, Lahore, her MA in Art History and Theory from the College of Fine Arts at the University of New South Wales, and her PhD from the Centre for Media Studies at The School of Oriental and African Studies, London. She has been teaching since 1997 and currently heading the Department of Cultural Studies at National College of Arts, Lahore. She was involved in many art projects and community workshops for raising awareness among women’s communities in several urban and rural areas of Pakistan. She has exhibited extensively in many international and local solo and prestigious group shows. She is an active member of Awami Art Collective which aims to use art in public spaces to generate a discourse on peaceful co-existence.

Maheen Gul

Activist

Maheen Gul is the Founder of Lahore Autism Centre. She is also a Director of Courting the Law, Pakistan’s leading technology focused access to justice initiative. She holds an LLM in Human Rights from the London School of Economics and is currently enrolled for an online Masters in Special and Additional Learning Needs with the Institute of Child Education and Psychology Europe (ICEPE).

Maheen Rahman

Business Leader

Maheen Rahman is the Chief Executive of Alfalah GHP Investment Management, and has over nineteen years of experience in investment banking, research and asset management. She started her career with Merrill Lynch in Investment Banking and transitioned to ABN Amro Bank in Corporate Finance. Maheen assumed stewardship of Alfalah GHP in 2013. Prior to that, she was CEO at IGI Funds between 2009-2013. She also serves as Chairperson of the Mutual Funds Association of Pakistan, independent Director at Glaxo Smith Klein Pakistan, Director at Pakistan’s Institute of Corporate Governance and Governor for LEAD Pakistan. Maheen has also been featured on Fortune’s 2015 40 Under 40 Top Ten Women to Watch. Maheen holds a B.Sc. (Hons) in Economics from LUMS and a M.Sc. Finance and Economics from Warwick Business School, UK.

Masuma Anwar

Singer

Masuma Anwar is a Pakistani pediatric doctor, singer-songwriter and musician. She rose to prominence with her cover singles of folk-songs such as “Ve Asaan Tenu Ki Akhna”, “Ve main chori chori” and “Neyu La leya”. As a singer, she was inspired by Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Abida Parveen, Ustad Muhammad Juman and the popular folk singer Reshma. She went on to release 4 albums in the market and was nominated for the pride of performance award last year. In 2012, she made her Bollywood debut in film Cocktail, and was praised for her song “Luttna”. In 2016, she recorded her first song “Naina Roye”, for a Pakistani film Maalik. In the same year, she made her Coke Studio debut as a featured artist in season 9 where she performed “Jhalliya” as part of a duo with Javed Bashir.

Soufia Siddiqi

Education Policymaker

Soufia Siddiqi is an education research and strategy advisor, having worked most recently with the Government of the Punjab since October 2018. Her earlier work in the education sector has included evaluations and technical strategy for the British Council’s Take a Child to School programme, and Alif Ailaan, a national campaign to improve community advocacy for education rights of the Pakistani child. Soufia completed her doctorate in Education at the University of Oxford as Pakistan’s 2010 Rhodes Scholar, and has a first degree in Economics.