ISLAMABAD: Minister for Interior Ahsan Iqbal on Monday said that Pakistan was quite a peaceful and rapidly developing country against the murky picture being portrayed by some international media outlets and US President Donald Trump.
Addressing the inauguration ceremony of a five day 10th International Scientific School, 2018 here, the minister urged foreign delegates to tell the people in their respective countries about the real picture of peaceful Pakistan.
The workshop was organised by National Center for Physics (NSC) and the Abdus Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Triest, Italy and was attended by scientists from across the world. The minister congratulated NCP for holding a successful event for last 10 years.
Ahsan said that science and technology were the key drivers for development because technological and scientific revolutions underpinned economic advances, improvements in health systems, education and infrastructure.
It is a fact that to promote technological advances, developing countries should invest in quality education for the youth, as well as continuous skills training for researchers and scientists, adding that they should ensure that knowledge is shared as widely as possible across society.
Development of physics, the minister said was a collaborative enterprise which was the reason for many modern inventions.
“Economic growth of advanced economies depends in large part on a strong infrastructure for science and technology, an infrastructure that can lead to the development of new industries, improved competitiveness of existing industries, and the creation of new job opportunities,” Ahsan added.
Among the world’s advanced nations, he said that a few nations had successfully leveraged advances in science and technology to stimulate economic activity. Therefore, as science and technology capabilities become even more important for all countries in addressing traditional development issues, programmes in some or all fields of science will undoubtedly require substantial science and technology inputs, he added.
Adopting appropriate technologies leads directly to higher productivity, which is the key to growth. In societies that have large stock and flows of knowledge, virtuous circles that encourage widespread creativity and technological innovation emerge naturally and allow sustained growth over long periods.
In societies with limited stocks of knowledge, bright and creative people feel stifled and emigrate as soon as they can, creating a vicious circle that traps those who remain in a more impoverished space. Such societies stay mired in poverty and dependency, the minister said.
Appreciating NPC’s excellent work in the field of physics and related emerging disciplines, Ahsan Iqbal said that undoubtedly, the National Centre for Physics was an emerging scientific and research institute of this region with international standards.
“It is worth mentioning here that NCP is playing a pivotal role in breaking the isolation of Pakistani researchers from the international scientific community, and is very actively establishing links between industry and research institutes for the development of society and intellectual growth,” he added.
Ahsan said that NCP is a unique research institution in Pakistan and the region for training and nourishment of young researchers in the fields of physics and allied discipline. He added that NCP hosts state of the art scientific and technical facilities that are not available in most of the high-grade universities of Pakistan.
“I am very happy to note that NCP has a very strong linkage with HEC recognised universities through a viable hosted researchers programme at postgraduate level,” he said.
He informed that the Planning Commission of Pakistan had approved two projects from Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) fund, including up-gradation and strengthening of research and development labs of NCP at a cost of Rs441.38 million, and the other is for the up-gradation of silicon strip tracker and Muon System for the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) Experiment, Research and Development for Rs275.752 million.
This contribution from the government of Pakistan shows that NCP’s professional and dedicated leadership is taking NCP to right directions, he added.