The software technology park in Lahore which was previously simply called as such was renamed two days ago in honour of the kid tech whiz Arfa Karim Randhawa. It is now called Arfa Software Technology Park. When on January 14, 2012 Pakistan’s youngest Microsoft Certified Professional passed away due to brain damage, the Chief Minister of Punjab, Mian Shahbaz Sharif announced just the other day that the software technology park will be renamed in honour of her.
Arfa Karim died at the age of 16 and was once in 2004, the world’s youngest Microsoft Certified Professional. She held this record till 2008, when it was broken by another younger child. She was also given invitation by Bill Gates himself to visit the Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington, USA. She had represented Pakistan at many different international forums and was recognized with the President’s Pride of Performance in 2005, which is Pakistan’s highest civilian honour.
The Arfa Software Technology Park was built in 2009 and functions under the Punjab Information Technology Board. It is one of the tallest buildings in Punjab with 17 floors and was constructed with the help of funds from the Chinese government. Recently a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that has been signed by the Punjab Government with Google Pakistan will assist mapping of the city of Lahore and the technical assistance will be carried out with the facilities available at the premises of Arfa Software Technology Park.
Arfa Software Technology Park
