RIYADH — A reception was hosted in honor of Pakistani scientist Dr. Samar Mubarakmand by Pakistan Investors Forum (PIF) at a local hotel here Thursday. The event was attended by prominent members of the Pakistani community here. Mubarakmand, who is currently on a short trip to the Kingdom, shot to international fame due to his involvement and contributions in the Pakistani defense weaponry program, including atomic weapon's program and missile technology program. He was also promoted in the Pakistani main-stream print and electronic media for his ambitious campaign for Thar Coal Power project. The host of the event, Engr. Tariq Soomro, incumbent President of PIF, in his welcome speech said that Mubarakmand is the pride of Pakistan because of his tremendous contributions toward scientific achievements. “We look upon him, and wish and pray for Dr. Samar to accomplish his dream project of Thar Coal extraction and development of power and diesel out of it,” he said. He also said that the nation was behind him in this pursuit of national sustenance and self-reliance. “I am sure with our prayers, Dr. Samar will ultimately succeed in his mission.” Chief Guest Mubarakmand said that there is a huge potential in Thar Coal, and spoke in length about Thar Coal extraction to produce energy, power and diesel. He shed light on the current energy situation in Pakistan, the dimensions of its crisis and the plan and prospects to redress the situation. According to him many countries in the world today, including Great Britain, China, Korea, among others have been successfully extracting diesel out of coal and that there is no doubt why Pakistan couldn't join them. “When we are able to do that then Pakistan would become rich and wealthy; there would be no poverty,” he said. After his detailed presentation, he invited questions from the audience and responded to all of them in comprehensive detail. During the question and answer session, he was ecstatic about the success of Thar Coal project. He hopes that the new government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif would declare Thar Coal project as a National Project in the same light as former Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto had about Atomic Weapon Program project, which was accomplished under the leadership of Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan. The event was attended by Khayyam Akbar, minister and deputy head of the Mission of Embassy of Pakistan in Riyadh, as a guest of honor. Other notables who attended included: Jaleel Hasan, Javed Iqbal, Choudhry khalid Mahmood, Asghar Qureshi, Amjad Siddiqui, Khalid Raja, Arif Mirza, Rana Rauf, General (Retd) Javed, Sanobar Sani, Saleem Saifullah, Mubashar Kirmani, Syed Zafar Ahmad, Ahsan Rasheed, Ghulam Safdar, and Bashir Chaudhary.
