Tenth Anniversary Celebration
of Asian Broadcasting Network
By Shahran Asim
 |
Pictures above:
Glimpses of the Tenth Anniversary Celebration of Asian
Broadcasting Network. Dr. Mujahid Ghazi is on extreme
left in the first picture |
Chicago,
IL: Asian Broadcasting Network celebrated its 10 years of
Urdu Radio Broadcasting by having a fun-filled evening which
will be remembered for years to come. The event was held at
Monty’s Elegant Banquet Hall in Bensenville, Illinois,
a suburb of Chicago. The team has been tirelessly working
for months to make the celebration a success story.
The stage was marvelously decorated by the team. The star
of the evening was a young blind Pakistani, Aqil Sajjad, a
courageous young man, who spoke the 10-year celebration of
ABN. His address marked his debut as a keynote speaker. He
got a standing ovation from the crowd. He spoke about the
freedom of speech and the importance of the ethnic media.
He talked about his experience in life especially after losing
sight. Aqil commended the work of ABN and urged the audience
to help the organization.
The program started after the Maghrib prayers with a recitation
from the Holy Qur’an by Ashhad Ghazi. Nida recited a
naat. After the presentation of the welcome address by Radio
host Jibran Ikyas, keynote speaker Aqil Sajjad was introduced
by Dr. Mujahid Ghazi. Every one in the audience stood up and
applauded to honor the young scientist. Aqil Sajjad lost his
vision when he was in the bloom of his life. After his sixteenth
birthday his life completely changed. Instead of losing hope,
he crossed all barriers and attained excellence in education.
Now a PhD student in Physics at Harvard, he is very active
in human right campaigns on the campus.
A beautiful video presentation by Khurram Habib followed his
speech. This video was a testimony to the active community
services rendered by ABN. Dr Mujahid Ghazi further highlighted
the work of his organization. He commended the work of other
community-based organizations and stressed the importance
of a networking relationship between media and NGOs.
The audience promptly responded to his call and signed pledges
to help run this broadcasting network.
A full course dinner by Sabri was served by Dr. Quadri’s
team equipped with wireless headphones. Beautiful custom-
made awards were distributed to those people who have made
a difference in the Asian American community. Iftikhar Shareef,
Dr. Ali Naqi Syed, Aqil Sajjad. Dr Tipu Siddique, Dr Wasiullah
Khan Dr Mohammad Hamid, Hassan Bin Abdullah, Razia Fasih Ahmed,
Merdad Azumen, Saket Soni, Danial Noorani, Sabahat Ashraf,
Ali Hassan Cemendtaur, Rauf tabani, Moin khan Moon, Talat
Rasheed, Human Development Foundation and Pakistaniat.com
were recipients of the awards.
Young talented members of Asian Broadcasting Network thrilled
the audience with their comic presentations. Their “Loose
Talk” in a make-shift radio studio was a bummer. Usually
it is Zeeshan as Awam who would take the lead in performance
but Jibran’s characterization of a local journalist
dominated this comedy segment. His lines “CHHap Do Chhap
Do’ became the slogan of the evening. A tantalizing
brief presentation by Gulshan Ara Syed took this beautiful
evening to the end.
Kudos to the young and energetic team led by Dr.Mujahid Ghazi
who toiled hard to make the event a remarkable family event
which the community had been yearning for quite some time.
Do listen to ABN Urdu Talk Radio show every Sunday live from
10am – 1pm Pacific Time on www.abnchicago.org
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