Beginning

Google NRP and it will show you link to the websites of National Response Plan, National Research Program, National Retirement Partners and National Reading Panel. There is no mention of Non-Resident Pakistanis because people do not know that NRP stands for Non-Resident Pakistanis also.

Hence, I created this blog. The thought of creating such a blog crossed my mind even before, especially during my days with United Nations Radio in New York where I worked as Producer for Pakistan. But, there never seemed an appropriate time to do so until now - when a friend, Mahmood Shaukat, along with his other friend, have organized the first-ever Non-Resident Pakistanis (NRP) summit. This event is to be held on August 22 and August 23, 2008, in New York.

While publicizing this event, I came across 2 definite feedbacks that further encouraged me to set up a blog.

When I sent the details of this event to Sreenath Sreenivasan (co-founder of South Asian Journalists Association and Dean of Student Affairs at Columbia Journalism School), he forwarded the information on his listserv with an interesting introductory line. Guess what?

He wrote, “All my life, I have been hearing about NRIs - non-resident Indians... Here's an item about NRPs - non-resident Pakistanis...”

Thanks, Sree!!!

A few minutes after Sree’s email, Imran Anwar, a Pakistani entrepreneur and journalist, sent me the following email:

“I would love to see pictures of the event online and also if you can manage to set up a group listing so that people can get in touch with each other after the event.”

So, here is the blog for all the NRPs where they will see the pictures of the event. I will also try and include other tit-bits from the event. As far as being connected with each other is concerned, I will try to keep this blog as interactive as possible, because I plan to not only talk about the NRP Summit but also different aspects of Pakistanis’ life abroad.