Prof. Dr. Qaiser Mushtaq

Excellence in science and technology depends upon the quality of education, especially at higher levels. The Higher Education Commission (HEC) realized that without developing education in general and science and technology in particular, our country will continue to lag behind. HEC has thus brought about a paradigm change in the policy on tertiary education in order to bring about a change in the quality of our education in general and science and technology in particular. A greater proportion of our GNP is now being spent on HEC itself, on “science projects”, “scientific laboratories” (some of which can easily be converted into small restaurants), and   “awards and rewards”. Social sciences are completely ignored. Many branches of science have simply been considered useless through propagating a utilitarian approach. Some branches of mathematics have been annihilated. A typical scientific cult has been created through appointments with huge salaries. Too much interfe...

Dawn, 20th May 2001 Mathematics in Pakistan is in a deplorable state. There are only about 233 mathematicians in Pakistan – not all of them are Ph.D. degree holders. On the other hand, New Zealand, with a population of 3.5 million, has in its 7 universities about 187 mathematicians. Singapore, whose population is only 3.1 million, has about 86 mathematicians in its one department of mathematics. There are 10,227 mathematicians above the rank of Assistant Professors in the United States. Then again in Pakistan, only two departments of mathematics have produced about 24 Ph.Ds. since 1947. These 24 Ph.Ds. were produced by 9 mathematicians. Out of these 9 mathematicians, 4 have left Pakistan for good. Compare this with the figures in the US, where 1,441 post-graduate departments of mathematics have been producing, on the average, 958.2 Ph.Ds every year since 1976. The novel idea of the Pakistan Council for Science and Technology to rate Pakistani scientists in general and math...

THE NEWS International, 28th October 1999 The Pakistan Council for Science and Technology (PCST) has produced a 133-page document entitled Leading Scientists of Pakistan. The rationale, as propagated in the Foreword, is to “help the administrators of science to evaluate the quality and output of scientists who seek key positions”. Scientists, 681 in total, are rated according to the so-called Impact Factor (IF), which is based on the number of times the journal, which contains their research publications, is cited. Nowhere in the world of academia are scholars rated as such. It is an established routine that a scholar is judged on the basis of his best work. For instance, Andrew Wiles is ranked high in merit as a mathematician because of his proof of Fermat’s Theorem. But nobody finds it necessary to compare him with Pierre Fermat and judge who is better. The Institute of Scientific Information (ISI) of USA, has produced a long list of about 4,950 scientific periodicals. This ...

BORNEO BULLETIN, 22nd December 1998            Pakistan's creation fifty-one years ago on 14 August 1947 is an extra-ordinary phenomenon in history. The unique struggle for the creation of a homeland for 76 millions Muslims living in the South Asian subcontinent required no less a personality than Mohammed Ali Jinnah, later hailed as Quaid-i-Azam (Great Leader). In the words of Stanley Wolpert, author of the book Jinnah of Pakistan : "Few individuals significantly alter the course of history. Fewer still modify the map of the world. Hardly anyone can be credited with creating a nation-state. Mohammed Ali Jinnah did all the three".   Jinnah's indomitable will and skillful leadership consolidated the political will of the Muslims of the subcontinent, which resulted in the creation of the fifth largest country in the world. The South Asian poet-philosopher Allama Mohammed Iqbal's dream of a separate homeland for Muslims l...

Borneo Bulletin, 21/22 February 1998   The Muslims’ contribution to science is well recognized by George Sarton in his monumental three-volume work, Introduction to the History of Science, published between 1927 to 1948. Sarton divides his story of the highest achievement in science into Ages, each lasting fifty years. With each Age he associates one central figure: thus 450 to 400 B.C. is the Age of Plato, followed by the Ages of Aristotle, Euclid, Archimedes and so on. From 750 to 1100 A.D., it is an unbroken succession of the Ages of Muslim scholars Jabir, Al-Khowarizmi, Al-Razi, Masudi, Abu Wafa, Al-Biruni and Omar Khayyam. In these 350 years, Arabs, Turks, Afghans and Persians – mathematicians, astronomers, physicists, chemists, clinicians and geographers of the commonwealth of Islam – held the world stage of science. Only after 1100 A.D. in Sarton’s scheme, do the first Western names begin to appear. Even then for another 250 years, they only share the honours with Muslim...

I am glad that Professor Asghar Qadir at last has come out in public with his point of view vis-a-vis the controversial Impact Factor (The News, August 7, 2000). Soon after my first article on the Impact Factor, Rating Pakistani Scientists , was published (The News, October 28, 1999), I wrote an open letter to Professor Asghar Qadir asking him to give his professional opinion. There was no response from him until my second article, The Impact Factor and Mathematicians (The News, July 19, 2000). It is important that mathematicians within and outside Pakistan know the stand he has taken.   My first article highlighted a number of crucial defects in the criterion. Professor Qadir's admittance that the criterion of Impact Factor has many flaws makes my case for rejection of the criterion more justifiable.   I need not repeat myself here in highlighting the defects, deficiencies, and deceptions of the criterion. However, I would like to add something new in my argume...

THE MUSLIM, 4 August 1989 The world is going through a period of major political, economic, military and technological changes. These changes present unique challenges and opportunities. Countries are becoming superpowers on the basis of their economies alone. The world's geopolitical polarity is shifting. Old alliances are moderating on both the Soviet and US sides, new forces are emerging, overpowering military force is appearing less useful than before, and communist countries are clearly concerned about what their poor economic condition portends for their long-term power and status. Like many other Third World Countries, Pakistan is coping with complex fiscal and technological efficiency problems, which challenge our work and market ethics and our competitive abilities. The challenges we face today are daunting. We need, today, to deal with vast quantities of data in an efficient manner. We need to distinguish important objectives from the unimportant ones, s...