April 18th, 2009 marked a major landmark for the Pakistani Blogosphere. The first National Conference held at the Regent Plaza in Karachi is being hailed as the first initiative of its kind in the entire region. The event was hosted by the Sindh IT department and organized by the MQM-PRAC (Professionals Research and Advisory Council).

Sindh Minister for IT, Mr. Raza Haroon, Chief guest Mr. Farooq Sattar and Mr. Cowasjee were amongst the prominent people who attended the conference to witness how blogging has grown and continues to do so in Pakistan.

18042009480The event kicked off with lots and lts of appreciation for an 11 year old girl, Umaima Adil, for her certification as the world’s youngest Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP). This was followed by a welcome speech from Mr. Raza Haroon and then came the speakers -bloggers! It was great listening to all of them.

I had the honour of meeting the IT minister Mr. Raza Haroon, Jehan Ara, Dr. Awab Alvi, Rabia Garib, Batool Habib, SAWJ, Ammar Yasir, Munir Usman, Faizuddin Alim and of course Assad Ullah and Hamza Zafar who had tagged along with me!

And yes I would also like to appreciate the fact that despite the event being organized by the MQM-PRAC, there were no flags around. They truly deserve credit for rising above party-politics and conducting this show wonderfully.

And we, as bloggers, are proud that our efforts and our voices have been recognized by the Government. This is an achievement. A landmark. A historical event.

I was covering the event live via twitter @ http://www.twitter.com/ammar_faheem and was also live blogged here & here

May the Almighty Bless you all.