Pakistani Achievers - at Home / Abroad
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ghazi52
THINK TANK: CONSULTANT
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Pakistan Post’s stamps honouring Sadequain carry forward his belief in accessible art
Four decades after his death, Sadequain’s monumental murals have found a new public canvas on Pakistan Post’s record-length stamps.THE STAMP OF A MASTER
Umer SheikhJuly 26, 2026
A perforated sheet containing the stamps issued by the Pakistan Post on Sadequain's 96th birthday | PNCA
The first time I stood beneath the ceiling of the Sadequain Gallery at Frere Hall, I could not look away.
Arz-o-Samawat [The Earth and the Heavens] was Sadequain’s most ambitious mural and possibly his largest. His demise in 1986 left the mural permanently unfinished, and the empty blue space that remains gives the work a strange, mystic appeal, holding in itself the same intrigue that one might feel for the promised idea of heaven. Sadequain is said to have called it his own Sistine Chapel.
I came across the same mural again recently, in miniature, on a postage stamp. On June 30, 2026, Sadequain’s 96th birthday, Pakistan Post unveiled three record-length stamps in the artist’s honour at the Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA), Islamabad.
Each stamp measures 280mm by 40mm, and a set of three stamps — billed as the longest in the world — are available on one perforated sheet. The stamp sheet itself features two panels from the Frere hall ceiling, alongside the entire length of another Sadequain mural, Treasures of Time.
Sadequain’s gift for scale and precision showed early. As a boy, he could reproduce entire schoolbooks by hand and taught himself to draw the world map from memory. He would fill the neighbourhood walls with charcoal birds and animals, much to his neighbours’ bewilderment and annoyance.
A reflection of that instinct for line and geography can still be traced in the details of the Frere Hall ceiling.
These early creative habits, alongside the history of his 1961 State Bank mural, Treasures of Time, were documented by his cousin Saiyid Ali Naqvi in his book Sadequain: Artist and Poet.
ghazi52
THINK TANK: CONSULTANT
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Sadequain: Artist and Poet.
Forty-six figures appear along its length, among them Socrates, Leonardo da Vinci, Al-Biruni, Rumi and Rabindranath Tagore, each rendered as an impressionistic portrait identified by the tools or symbols of their calling.
Walking its length feels like walking through centuries. Sadequain placed himself in the mural too, a frail, sickly self-portrait, taking his own pulse before the ninth-century physician Al-Razi, reflecting his own appreciation and deep interest in the history of ideas he was painting.
Across his career, Sadequain is said to have produced more than 15,000 works. He gave many away freely, to friends, family and strangers alike, and chose to paint many of his murals inside public institutions rather than private galleries.
That instinct for accessibility shaped his legacy, even as, after his death, rising collector interest pulled much of his work into private hands and into the reach of forgers.
Sadequain was not just Pakistan’s foremost painter but a pioneer of modern South Asian art, and it is fitting that, even shrunk to a few centimetres on a postage stamp, the scale of his murals still comes through — although it does demand a record-length to hold them.
Stamps are made for public dissemination. Issuing one carries forward Sadequain’s belief in accessible art a step further, letting anyone possess a piece of his work that is otherwise locked inside a gallery or private collection.
At a moment when national narratives are so often shaped from above, the choice of what represents a country’s visual identity matters.
Forty-six figures appear along its length, among them Socrates, Leonardo da Vinci, Al-Biruni, Rumi and Rabindranath Tagore, each rendered as an impressionistic portrait identified by the tools or symbols of their calling.
Walking its length feels like walking through centuries. Sadequain placed himself in the mural too, a frail, sickly self-portrait, taking his own pulse before the ninth-century physician Al-Razi, reflecting his own appreciation and deep interest in the history of ideas he was painting.
Across his career, Sadequain is said to have produced more than 15,000 works. He gave many away freely, to friends, family and strangers alike, and chose to paint many of his murals inside public institutions rather than private galleries.
That instinct for accessibility shaped his legacy, even as, after his death, rising collector interest pulled much of his work into private hands and into the reach of forgers.
Sadequain was not just Pakistan’s foremost painter but a pioneer of modern South Asian art, and it is fitting that, even shrunk to a few centimetres on a postage stamp, the scale of his murals still comes through — although it does demand a record-length to hold them.
Stamps are made for public dissemination. Issuing one carries forward Sadequain’s belief in accessible art a step further, letting anyone possess a piece of his work that is otherwise locked inside a gallery or private collection.
At a moment when national narratives are so often shaped from above, the choice of what represents a country’s visual identity matters.
ghazi52
THINK TANK: CONSULTANT
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This image shows Saima Saleem, Pakistan's first visually impaired career diplomat, standing beside the national flag of Pakistan.
Professional Role:
She serves as a diplomat and counselor representing Pakistan at international forums, including the United Nations.Advocacy:
She is widely recognized as a role model for disability inclusion, frequently utilizing Braille to deliver impactful statements at high-level UN debates.
Watandar
Trusted Member
Truly a great man and a servant of the people. I would love to emulate people like him. I encourage people to donate to his institute, SIUT.Dr Adib Rizvi honoured
KARACHI: The prestigious American College of Surgeons has conferred an honorary fellowship on Dr Adib Rizvi of the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation for his services in the field of surgical sciences, public services and pioneering the transplant movement in Pakistan.
The fellowship was conferred on Dr Rizvi at the annual congress of the college held in Washington DC, according to information reaching here. This year honorary fellowships were awarded to five surgeons hailing from various parts of the world who have made extraordinary contributions to their respective branches of surgery. The globally renowned surgeons who received fellowships were from Australia, Colombia, France and Japan besides Dr Rizvi of Pakistan.
In its citation the college recounted the meritorious services rendered by Dr Adib Rizvi by setting up the SIUT in Karachi which not only provides free state of the art medical treatment to the people but is also one of the growing urological and transplant centers of the region. The citation also lauded the role Dr Rizvi has played in his country by bringing legislation to prohibit commercial transplantation.
The American College of Surgeons established in 1903 is the largest professional organisation of surgeons in the world with 80,000 members on its roll
Master Chief
Trusted Member
This woman is a celebrity. She cooks Hindustanis in braille routinely. Zero flinching.
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