Daily Times

After meeting several charities based in Pakistan, I decided to work with Read Foundation to establish a school in Azad Kashmir, because READ foundation takes the responsibility from acquiring the land to building the school, and finding teachers too. I have chosen the responsibility of raising funds for the total cost of the building of the school and furniture for 240 pupils. For that I arranged a fundraising dinner before Christmas in London. My chief guest of the evening was Mr Per Wimmer, who is an astronaut, a writer, a banker, a traveller and a great deal more. How many of my readers have met an astronaut?

While I was leaving for the hotel where I had arranged the event, I watched the news of sit-ins in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi by a religious party by the name of Tehreek-e-Labbaik, because a Christian woman, Asia Bibi, accused of committing blasphemy, had been acquitted by the courts of justice. Shehad remained on death row for eight years on charges denied by her. The apex court upheld the blasphemy law but said there was not enough evidence to convict her. Her release sparked days of mass protests and violence by religious hard-liners who vowed to kill her.

Protesters, rallied by firebrand cleric Khadim Hussain Rizvi, called for the killing of the three judges, including Chief Justice Mian SaqibNisar, who had acquitted Bibi.

Rizvi has managed to turn out tens of thousands of supporters on multiple occasions, often forcing authorities to bow to his demands on religious matters. Cleric Afzal Qadri, another leader of the TLP, has urged a crowd of supporters outside the Punjab Assembly in the city of Lahore to revolt against army chief and over throw Imran Khan’s government.

When I asked Per Wimmer what would be his message for the Pakistani youth, he replied; continue to dream big and follow your dreams … the sky is the limit

Tolerance is the basic principle of Islam, noting that the religion condemns injustice and oppression. If religion of Islam comes down heavily upon commission of blasphemy, then Islam is also very tough against those who level false allegations of a crime. It is a well settled principle of law that one who makes an assertion has to prove it. Thus, the onus rests on the prosecution to prove guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt throughout the trial. This was noted by the top judge in the Asia Bibi case verdict. Presumption of innocence remains throughout the case until such time the prosecution on the evidence satisfies the court beyond reasonable doubt that the accused is guilty of the offence alleged against him.

TLP has been going from strength to strength since it catapulted itself onto the national imagination in 2016, after leading a successful sit-in in Islamabad in the wake of Mumtaz Qadri’s execution who murdered Punjab governor Salman Taseer in Islamabad. As disturbing as it was for many of us that Qadri would gather such support, the dharna itself provided many opportunities for amusement as we giggled at the exposition of participants throwing their slippers at army helicopters.

Asia Bibi’s acquittal, however, has been seen as a hopeful sign by Christians and other minorities in Pakistan, where the mere rumour of blasphemy could spark lynching. Religious minorities, who have been repeatedly targeted by extremists, fear the law because it is often used to settle scores and to pressure minorities.

When I managed to reach the venue of my fundraising dinner before time, I was checking the time of arrival of the chief guest as I saw him coming down the stairs at the time I requested him to come. Soon after the dinner, I noticed that Per Wimmer was not in the hall, while I was looking for him, he appeared in his astronaut suit and asked my permission to give a presentation about his achievements and his future plans.

Per Wimmer graduated from Harvard University in 1998. During his two years at Harvard, he became the co-founder and first president of the Harvard Scandinavian Society. The New York Explorers Club has awarded its highest status, a Fellowship, to Per Wimmer, CEO at Wimmer Space, for his services to earthly adventures and space exploration. A Fellowship is reserved for those who have distinguished themselves in the field of adventure, exploration, science, and space.

In brief, Per Wimmer is a global financier, an entrepreneur, an adventurer, a pioneer and a philanthropist. He owns and runs his own investment bank in London, Wimmer Financial which he founded on the 50th anniversary of Sputnik day, Oct 4, 2007. His investment bank specialises in global corporate finance within the area of natural resources mining, oil and gas, green energy as well as real estate and infrastructure financing worldwide. Per Wimmer has published three books to date and is currently working on his fourth. Adventure travelling has taken him to spend time with the Indians of the Amazon forest; to visit the Easter Islands; the Galapagos Islands; trekking the Inka Trail to Macchu Pichu; skiing at the highest skiing facility in the world at 5.500 m in Bolivia; walking on live volcanos in Hawaii; hang gliding over the beaches of Rio de Janiero; cross-country USA on a Harley Davidson motorbike and back (9.000 miles) and to dive with sharks in the Fiji Islands and he has visited 72 countries.

On Oct 6, 2008, Per Wimmer wrote world history, together with Ralph Mitchell, by successfully completing the first tandem sky dive over the highest point on Earth, Mount Everest. After six days of trekking, Per Wimmer& Mitchell flew in a Pilatus Porter airplane to an altitude of 29.500 feet, just above the peak of Mount Everest and jumped out in minus 50 degrees Celsius and freely fell for 60 seconds before opening the parachute and landing at the Drop Zone at 12.350 feet.

Wimmer Space includes his three missions to space on three different rockets. Per Wimmer is a founding astronaut with Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic and, thus, one of the first astronauts to travel on Space Ship Two. He is also astronaut number 1 to go to space on the XCOR Lynx rocket ship, and holds a space rocket reservation with Space Adventures. Wimmer Space also includes charity donations and charity activities, including 12-month school programmes in the UK and Denmark.

My most satisfied audience of that evening were two 10-year-old children who came with their parents. I would like to add here that apart from coming on time PerWimmer was the last person to leave the hall with me, as he suggested to me that he considered it his duty to leave after every single guest. When I asked him what would be his message for the Pakistani youth, he replied; continue to dream big and follow your dreams … the sky is the limit.

Per Wimmer has promised to visit Pakistan at the completion of the school which I have pledged to build.

The writer is a traveller and freelance writer based in UK.

Published in Daily Times, January 22^nd 2019.