Ahsan urges foreigners to disseminate true picture of Pakistan
ISLAMABAD, (MILLAT ONLINE):Minister for Interior, Ahsan Iqbal on Monday said Pakistan was quite a peaceful and rapidly developing country against the murky picture being portrayed by some international media outlets like CNN 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 real picture (peaceful) of Pakistan.
The workshop was organized by National Center for Physics 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 successful event for last 10 years.
He said science and technology were the key drivers for development, because technological and scientific revolutions underpin 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, and should ensure that knowledge is shared as widely as possible across society.
Development of physics, he said was a collaborative enterprise and this enterprise was the reason of many modern inventions.
“Economic growth of advanced economies depends in large part on a strong infrastructure for science and technology (S&T), an infrastructure that can lead to the development of new industries, improved competitiveness of existing industries, and the creation of new jobs opportunities,” he added.
Among the world’s advanced nations, he said a few nations have 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. Programs in some or all fields of science will undoubtedly require substantial Science &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.
Appreciating NPC’s excellent work in the field of physics and related emerging disciplines, the Interior Minister said undoubtedly, National Centre for Physics was an emerging scientific and research institute of this region with international standards.
“It is really worthy to mention here that NCP is playing its 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 & intellectual growth,” he added.
Ahsan said NCP wa 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 said 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 recognized universities through a viable hosted researchers programme at post graduate level,” he said adding “I must appreciate that upon my recommendation, which I gave last year at this platform, to initiate flagship Facility Projects i.e. projects which can put Pakistan in a high level with respect to socioeconomic development and which help us to reflect Pakistan on the World map”.
He informed that Planning Commission of Pakistan had approved two Projects from Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) fund including upgradation and strengthening of R&D Labs of National Centre for Physics at a cost of Rs 441.380 million and the other is for the upgrade of silicon strip tracker and Muon System for the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) Experiment, Research and Development of Rs 275.752 million.
This contribution from government of Pakistan shows that NCP’s professional and dedicated leadership is taking NCP to right directions, he added.