Unaiza Ali Barlas, a 20 year old Pakistani student has beaten a Guinness World Record for the longest cartoon strip (individual). Her name has been registered in the Guinness Book of World Records on 12 March 2017.

About Unaiza Ali Barlas

A student of Roots Ivy International Schools, Unaiza made a 267.38 metres long cartoon strip in Lahore, which is officially recognized as the world’s longest comic strip. She officially surpassed the previous record which was held by India’s Narayan Debnath.

Unaiza is a passionate artist and has already found an NGO called ‘Art for Humanity’, which raises charity for Edhi Foundation.

Having done her A-Levels from Roots Ivy, Unaiza completed her comic strip in almost a year through tiring and selfless efforts, in a bid to bring respect, dignity, and identity to Pakistan with her art.

While talking to a TV channel, she said that she was always passionate about the field of arts and cartooning. Talking about the theme of the comic she said,

“There’s a character named Jack, which is all about self-actualization initially. He wanted to achieve his own personal goals, get out of the comic strip and live his own life. After he meets new challenges, he learns to not just dream about his fantasy world of his own, but to excel in his current circumstances and help others in doing so”.

Her Inspiration

She says that the theme behind her comic strip is selflessness, and that she wants to project this message to the youth of Pakistan.

She has been drawing cartoons throughout her childhood. Talking about what prompted her to break the world record, she said:

“While scrolling the Guinness website, I came across a certain record that matched my field entirely. It was held by India and I decided to take it up as a challenge to beat this record.”

To get the record, Unaiza needed to get an 877 feet long canvas. However, that was out of the realm of possibility.

So here’s what she did instead – she took sheets of paper, cut them and joined them together and made the precise boxes in which she drew the cartoons neatly. After much hard work and effort, she finally managed to surpass the record.

Her love for Pakistan and art is evident from what she’s achieved. She said:

“My passion is art, my art is Pakistan, I’m Pakistan. Pakistan Zindabad”.

Founder Roots IVY, Riffat Mushtaq said:

“Unaiza, a young, talented student of ours, was always very compassionate about humanity. Drawing comic strips and creating comic characters was a natural passion for Unaiza. I often used to see her sitting in one corner of the campus drawing comics”.

Just like Unaiza, we all need to put in our efforts to make Pakistan great again. Nothing is impossible, if we’re determined.