25/01/2023
Darkness of ignorance grips Muslim World, Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman
Prof. Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman, ICCBS Patron-in-Chief and former Federal Minister for Science and Technology, has lamented that there is the darkness of superstition and ignorance in the Muslim World.
Not a single Nobel prize in science was ever won by any scientist in the Muslim countries in recognition for work done within the Islamic world, he said, adding that both Dr. Abdus Salsm and Zewail Ahmed won Nobel Prizes for researches carried out in the UK and USA respectively. Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman advised the higher officials of the COMSATS to focus on education, science, technology, innovation & commercialization in their policy formulation.
He was addressing the inaugural ceremony of the 24th Meeting of COMSATS Coordinating Council held in the International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS), University of Karachi, on Wednesday. It is pertinent to mention here that the annual meeting of the COMSATS is being hosted by the ICCBS, University of Karachi this year.
The inaugural ceremony was also addressed by Prof. Dr. Ashraf Shaalan, COMSATS Coordinating Council’s Chairperson, Vice Chancellor University of Karachi Prof. Dr. Khalid Mehmood Iraqi, Prof. Dr. M. Iqbal Choudhary, Director of the International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences, and COMSTECH Coordinator-General, Ambassador Dr. Mohammad Nafees Zakaria, Executive Director COMSATS, and Prof. Dr. Farzana Shaheen (ICCBS).
Many dignitaries, including Prof. Dr. Muhammad Hassan, President the World Academy of Sciences, were present on the occasion.
Showing the grave concerns over the alarming decline in education, science and technology sectors in Muslim world, Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman said that, in contrast, 121 Nobel Prizes have been awarded to the affiliates of faculty members of University of Cambridge alone, and 34 Nobel Prizes have been won by faculty members of just one College, Trinity College, of Cambridge University, he said. We need to hang our heads in shame for corrupt and incompetent leadership in the Islamic World, he observed.
Prof. Khalid Iraqi welcomed the officials and affiliates of COMSATS in the varsity, and said that it was really a great honour for the University to host this important meeting in its campus.
He pointed out, “We need to recognize our heroes, and Nobel Laureate Prof. Dr. Abdus Salam was a real hero of Pakistan.”
Talking about climate change, he said that global phenomena of climate change had been ignored still in Pakistan, while it was a serious problem for western world even 20 years back. The natural disaster in Sindh and Balochistan was not only a natural disaster, it was also manmade, he maintained.