Jimmy Engineer, who has done more than 3,000 paintings and won numerous national and international awards, is also a peace activist. At the peak of the India-Pakistan tensions two years ago, he walked from the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, to the Indian border with flags of the two rival nations embossed on his shirt, urging people to shun violence during this 200-mile long march. In the Subcontinent, the 50-year-old artist is better known for his paintings of the partition that divided British India in 1947 into the present states of India and Pakistan.

A 12-member South Korean team of archaeologists has discovered more than 200 remains, including one stupa of the Buddha civilisation here in Jaulian near Taxila. The Jaulian monastery is located atop the hill some 300 feet high, about 6 kms north-east of the Taxila Museum. After these remarkable discoveries, the Jaulian-II is confirmed as preceding Jaulian 1. It requires further attention in the study of Gandharan Buddhist monasteries in the Taxila region. The team found coins from excavation belonging to early Kushan period in the First Century AD.

The Karachi Stock Exchange broke all previous records on Wednesday when dividend-driven buying euphoria was further intensified amid unprecedented price flare-up. It finally closed at 8,180.79 points as compared to previous 7,925.70 points, up 255.09 points, signalling that it may not be the end of speculative trading and bargain-hunting, which is dominating the market since January.

The artist is indeed a lyrical colourist and blends her colours in a very surrealistic fashion. There’s a profusion of orange in her works, reflective of the setting sun and its dying embers as the day disappears into eternity. Her colours carry a spiritual significance. She shapes her letters in the Kufic style, with geometrical shapes, no loops, and no circular figures. She has to her credit an exhibition of calligraphic representations of Shah Latif’s mystical verse.

Also in the news today…

• 35 Indian publishers to Lahore Book Fair
• Canadian Co To Invest US$500 MLN To Set-Up Wind Farm In Pakistan
• Instaphone further reduces SMS charges in Pakistan
• Norway Firm to Build Over 100 Satellite Offices in Pakistan
• Cisco, Gul Ahmed install first IP telephony network in Pakistan