Global impact poll: Prof Yunus, Amjad Saqib, Prof. A. Z. Hafi lead South Asia’s contenders

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Mar, 2026) The Impact Hallmarks (IH) has announced the nomination of 20 distinguished icons from South Asia and China including Pakistan’s Dr. Amjad Saqib, Bangladesh’s Prof M. Yunus, India's Kailash Satyarthi and Nepal’s Pushpa Basnet for the international opinion poll of the Quarticentennial Merited Impacts Gazette — a global platform dedicated to identifying and documenting the most transformative contributions of the first quarter of the 21st century.

According to a press release issued here on Thursday, early signals from the nominations place three towering figures at the forefront: two giants of humanitarian transformation — Prof M. Yunus and Dr Amjad Saqib — who appear to be shaping the Humanitarianism category alongside Prof. Dr. Aurangzeb Hafi and Prof Chandra Wickramasinghe, emerging as leading contenders in the Scientific Endeavours quadrant.

Public voting is open at:

https://www.impacthallmarks.org/#voting

Prof. Aurangzeb Hafi, a polymath and cross-disciplinary researcher, has built a reputation for synthesising insights across cosmology, biology, environmental science, public health and digital education. His work spans conceptual innovations such as Magneto-Hydro-Tropism (MHT) and the IRT Terato-kinetics model, alongside applied research on COVID-19 outbreak dynamics and environmental toxicity.

During the 21st Century’s Mega-Disaster, declared as the ‘Generation-Defining Upheaval’ – the Asian Tsunami of 2004, Prof. Hafi served as the prime investigatory head of the ‘Child Retardation Risk Assessment’ (CRRA) and the ‘Child Retardation Risk Management’ (CRRM) programs, and maintained major liaisons with the UN and other international platforms in the hard-hit areas of Sri Lanka. Unlike contemporary researchers relying on the readily available data, he managed to visit the highly endangering areas in order to collect the first hand information rather than the duplicated statistics. For the exceptional markers of the research during the ‘Generation-Defining Upheaval’ of Tsunami, Prof. A. Z. Hafi was knighted in the ‘de jure’ supreme knighthood category, and was subsequently nominated for the Noble prize in 2006, which he declined for his strict and hardline principled-stance against the funding mechanisms involved therein, primarily amassed through the manufacturing of dynamite and other explosives.

Beyond academia, Prof Hafi has advanced conservation initiatives and educational reform, most recently introducing the Deca-Archic Phygital Literacy Model — a framework aimed at redefining learning in an increasingly hybrid physical-digital world.

In the Humanitarianism quadrant, Dr. Amjad Saqib stands out as a pioneering architect of social solidarity through the founding of the Akhuwat Foundation, widely regarded as the world’s largest interest-free microfinance network. Since 2001, the organisation has disbursed billions in Qardh-e-Hasna loans, enabling millions to rise out of poverty with dignity.

In this category, Prof. M. Yunus — Nobel Peace Prize laureate — remains a defining force in reimagining economic inclusion. By extending collateral-free microcredit to the poorest, including marginalised communities like beggars often excluded from formal banking, Yunus catalysed a global movement in social business. Now serving in a leadership role within Bangladesh’s interim governance framework, his enduring legacy underscores the transformative power of trust-based economic systems.

Other notable humanitarian nominees include Parveen Saeed, founder of Karachi’s Khana Ghar community kitchen; Kailash Satyarthi, whose decades-long campaign has liberated tens of thousands of children from child smuggling and exploitation; Dr. Jehan Perera, a leading voice for reconciliation and human rights; and Pushpa Basnet, known for her pioneering work supporting children of incarcerated parents.

In the Legacy Memorial quadrant, the late Bilquis Edhi is honoured for her lifelong service through the Edhi Foundation. She is joined by Dr. Ruth Pfau, who led Pakistan’s historic fight against leprosy, and Dr. A. T. Ariyaratne, founder of the Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement.

In the Scientific Endeavours category, Pakistan’s Prof. Hafi is joined by a distinguished cohort including Dr. Fathima Benazir J., recognised for innovations such as the plant-derived fluorescent dye “tinto rang” and the RNA Wrapr transport medium; Nitesh Kumar Jangir, inventor of the neonatal breathing device “Saans”; and Prof. Chandra Wickramasinghe, renowned for his pioneering work on cosmic dust and cometary panspermia.

Impact Hallmarks has invited the global public to participate in the international opinion poll, encouraging recognition of individuals whose work has profoundly shaped humanity’s intellectual, scientific and humanitarian trajectory in the 21st century.