He was the first Pakistani to win a Nobel prize in physics after he predicted the existence of the so-called ‘God particle’, but in his home country Abdus Salam’s achievements have been written from the record books, according to a report in the Daily Mail. Despite being a leading figure in Pakistan’s space and nuclear programme, Salam was shunned by Muslim fundamentalists when they took control of the country in the 1970s.
Although he was a Muslim, the physicist, who died in 1996, belonged to the Ahmadi sect, who believed Hadrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was their spiritual leader.
As a result Salam along with Pakistanis from other religious minorities, such as Shia Muslims, Christians and Hindus were pushed into the wilderness and attacked by militants from the Sunni Muslim majority.
Salam received a string of international prizes and honours for his groundbreaking work in the world of subatomic physics.
In 1979, he was joint winner of the Nobel Prize for his research on the Standard Model of particle physics, which theorized that fundamental forces govern the overall dynamics of the universe. Salam and Steven Weinberg, with whom he shared the prize, independently anticipated the existence the ‘God particle’ which later became formally known as the Higgs boson after the British professor Peter Higgs who said the particle was responsible for endowing other particles with mass.
Pervez Hoodbhoy, a Pakistani physicist who once worked with Salam, said the way his colleague had been treated was a tragedy. He added: “He went from someone who was revered in Pakistan, a national celebrity, to someone who could not set foot in Pakistan. If he came, he would be insulted and could be hurt or even killed.”
Physicists in Switzerland stoked worldwide excitement on Wednesday when they announced they have all but proven the Higgs boson particle’s existence.
This was done using the world’s largest atom smasher at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, near Geneva. “This would be a great vindication of Salam’s work and the Standard Model as a whole,” said Khurshid Hasanain, chairman of the physics department at Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad. In the 1960s and early 1970s, Salam wielded significant influence in Pakistan as the chief scientific adviser to the president, helping to set up the country’s space agency and institute for nuclear science and technology.
Salam also assisted in the early stages of Pakistan’s effort to build a nuclear bomb, which it eventually tested in 1998.
Salam’s life, along with the fate of the 3 million other Ahmadis in Pakistan, drastically changed in 1974 when parliament amended the constitution to declare that members of the sect were not considered Muslims under Pakistani law.
Salam resigned from his government post in protest and eventually moved to Europe to pursue his work. In Italy, he created a centre for theoretical physics to help physicists from the developing world. Although Pakistan’s then-president, General Zia ul-Haq, presented Salam with Pakistan’s highest civilian honour after he won the Nobel Prize, the general response in the country was muted. The physicist was celebrated more enthusiastically by other nations, including Pakistan’s archenemy, India.
Despite his achievements, Salam’s name appears in few textbooks and is rarely mentioned by Pakistani leaders or the media.
By contrast, fellow Pakistani physicist AQ Khan, who played a key role in developing the country’s nuclear bomb and later confessed to spreading nuclear technology to Iran, North Korea and Libya, is considered a national hero. Khan is a Muslim.
The president who honored Salam would later go on to intensify persecution of Ahmadis, for whom life in Pakistan has grown even more precarious. Taliban militants attacked two mosques packed with Ahmadis in Lahore in 2010, killing at least 80 people. “Many Ahmadis have received letters from fundamentalists since the 2010 attacks threatening to target them again, and the government isn’t doing anything,” said Qamar Suleiman, a spokesman for the Ahmadi community. For Salam, not even death saved him from being targeted. Hoodbhoy said his body was returned to Pakistan in 1996 after he died in Oxford, England, and was buried under a gravestone that read ‘First Muslim Nobel Laureate.’ A local magistrate ordered that the word ‘Muslim’ be erased.
science does not see religion.The government of pakistan at that time needed to understand that.
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Comment went into admin's black hole. The ghost of Zia …
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Discrimination against Ahmadis started in Bhotto's era when he add in PK constitution that Ahmadi's are not Muslims. Sure Zia was also not better. I totally agree when author talks about Ahmadi and christian other minorities are badly discriminated in Pakistan but I disagree with him/her about ill-treatment of shia's in Pakistan. For God sake be honest, shias are holding govt in Pakistan and so many prominent politicians and govt officers are shia. Many giants military officers in PK are shia. BTW does author know that rice people and huge business figures in Pakistan are also shia. Here you go with the list http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Pakistani_Sh…
No it started from Jamat-e-Islami's 1953 agitation but Supreme Court of Pakistan (justice Munit Report) took affirmative action and destroyed the Mullah by declaring death penalties to Maudoodi and Abdus Sattar Niazi. Bhutto and Zia played the Ahmadiyya card just to make Mullahs happy and to extend their period in powers.
This is a shame for this nation , that instead of being proud of the genius scientist who is from Pakistan , he has been condemned by religious bigots and fanatics just for his belief . This so called religious lords preach intolerance and hatred towards minorities and the government either endorses their filthy agendas for fear of mass protest or loss of support for their fragile coalition
We need to be a nice human being first , then only we can be good Muslims.
It is so unfortunate, instead being proud about his excellence in science.Pakistan is proud about calling him Non-Muslim. Hard to rationalize with irrational society.
my comment might seem biased !!! being a muslim, i have no difference with MR ABDUL SALAM or his sect, as long as they dont use ISLAM as a bait. Apart from that, we appreciate what he did for PAKISTAN as a PAKISTANI CITIZEN !!!
Religion is between Allah and HIS creation. If I want to call myself, Jew, Christian or Muslim, it is my decsion alone. You can differ with me, but cannot decide my religion. It is God given right.
as an infidel he was all ok but we cant call him a muslim, whatever his achievements are or were
Go fight with Allah. He mentioned in the Holy Quran " There is no force in religion"
No matter what the bigoted mullas say but the fact remains there Dr. Abdul Salam
a son of the soil was and is one of the greatest sons of Pakistan and we should thank God that such a man ever lived among us. Even now it is not too late to declare him a national hero and name a few places after him as a token of our gratitude to him. We as a nation ought to be ashamed of the mean treatment given to him when he was alive. I for one when ever I get a chance go to his grave and pray and that is to show my appreciation of him.
Height of ignorance. Please try to understand my point before reacting to it. We don’t doubt his patriotism at all. He was a good Pakistani like other loyal minorities, so what’s the big deal !!!
How dare you praise this kafir. we only love and praise mumtaz qadari. ha ha ha
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