Ernest Dempsey – Yesterday was some notable time in the history of Pakistan’s communication technology when a first ‘advanced’ geostationary communication satellite was launched into the space by China on behalf of Pakistan. The satellite, called PAKSAT-1R, was launched from China’s Xichang Satellite Launch Center and it’ll provide communication services to more than 45 clients, including Pakistan’s army and some popular private TV channels as well as cell phone communication companies. Undoubtedly, the credit goes to President Asif Ali Zardari who signed the agreement for this satellite with his Chinese counterpart in 2008. There is but one note of concern the good news evokes: when it can, and does, revert to its technologically advanced neighbor, why is Pakistan spending hundreds of millions on its so-called scientific research?The question raised in The Express Tribune post was whether the country’s space science program is on the right track. Right on the mark, however, will be the question “why waste millions on science institutes and projects that are simply insignificant and, at worst, not even scientific?” Spending on research is justified only if the research is carried out by competent, learned, well-trained, and intelligent scientists. These qualities are, sadly, lacking in Pakistan’s so-called scientists. In all provinces and institutions of the country, science has been reduced to cramming text and reproducing it in exams. Rehashed versions and imitations of research carried out abroad decades ago are printed as ‘research papers’ by degree-holders who, through back doors and other underhand methods, have occupied high academic designations. For feasting on government funds, this titular ‘research’ has enjoyed the lack of accountability through fair audits and competent, objective evaluation. And all this has been going on for decades, growing year after year.
The results are disastrous and obvious: in times of disaster, Pakistan’s geological/environmental hazards are managed by China; its missile technology and air defense system are developed by China; its mineral reserves are explored by the developed west; and its satellite communication technology is developed by… good guess, China. For all scientific and technological solutions, Pakistan pays China and other developed countries while at the same time producing science rotes under the supervision of PhD-degree holders who each gets 5 to 10 times that of an average Pakistani citizen’s monthly income. This pay is only a small part of the hundreds of millions spent annually on buying scientific equipment for whose use to learn, foreign trainers are hired or incompetent rotes are sent abroad, again spending a lot of government funds. And the outcome? Recently, a drone developed domestically crashed to the ground after it collided with a bird!
It is almost unimaginable what financial (and intellectual) horrors have been and are being planted by this waste of public funds in the land where people kill themselves on account of extreme poverty. True that arts and humanities are as dead as science here, but the country doesn’t have to pay huge amounts to China or the west to publish poetry, decorate buildings, or compose music. If there is one failed pursuit the nation has been burdened with, repeatedly, it’s that of science. Whether it’s nuclear physics, earth science, engineering, or space science, Pakistan has been sucked of funds by parasitic academia that are worth little but get all.
The current democratic government is doing a lot of good stuff in public interest. Devolving ministries to provinces and increasing cooperation with neighboring countries for collaboration are a few of its big positives. It already has assigned the education sector to provinces and substantially reduced funds for higher education—funds that would be wasted on producing more inept degree-holders. It will be a great step toward progress if President Zaradri’s government also puts an end to the ‘science fraud’ that this country has been a victim of for decades. Minimizing foreign scholarships to foreign lands, eliminating the nonsensical tenure-track scheme of payment, and cutting all titular-scientific expenses to bare minimum would help the nation a great deal in coping with the debt/financial crisis that is looming large over its shrinking economy.
