South Asia Investor Review

The Human Development Foundation (HDF) held its sixth annual benefit dinner at the Wyndham Hotel in San Jose, CA, on May 30, 2009. The dinner attracted about 500 attendees. In spite of the down economy and rising unemployment in the high-tech valley, the event exceeded HDF 2008 record of $140,000 in donations by raising $170,000 this year for HDF programs, to increase literacy, improve healthcare and fight poverty in Pakistan. Similar events are held each year in all major cities in North America to raise large sums for the noble cause HDF has undertaken. HDF's efforts are inspired by late Dr. Mahbub ul Haq , the famous Pakistani development economist who pioneered the prevailing human development theory, and founded the Human Development Report of UNDP published each year by the United Nations. The focus of the HDF effort can well be summed up by what Dr. Haq said, "..in the last analysis, it is a child who did not die, a disease that did not spread, an ethnic tension tha...

The year 2008 was a year of great turmoil in Pakistan as the prior year ended with the tragic assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on Dec 27, 2007. It began with Bhutto's widower Asif Ali Zardari taking over the reins of Pakistan Peoples Party, Pakistan's largest political party, and ended with rising tensions in South Asia in the aftermath of Mumbai terrorist attacks. Some of the key events that shaped the year for Pakistanis included: 1. Major defeat was dealt to pro-Musharraf forces in free, fair and democratic elections in which Pakistan Peoples Party won the most seats in parliament followed by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League as the second largest political force. 2. President Musharraf was forced out of office and replaced by Asif Ali Zardari who won the parliamentary approval by an overwhelming majority. 3. With rising militancy in all parts of the country, suicide bombings in 2008 surpassed last year’s figures, with...