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| India-Pakistan |
| Pak minister Siraj congratulates Ahmadinejad on missile tests, enrichment |
| 2006-04-16 |
* NWFP minister says nuclear capability is every nation’s right * Iranian president thanks Pakistan for supporting its nuclear stance Staff Report PESHAWAR: “The Pakistani nation celebrates Iran’s successful steps in missile technology and uranium enrichment and respects the bold stance of the Iranian government,” NWFP Senior Minister Sirajul Haq said on Saturday. Talking to Iranian President Mehmood Ahmadinejad in Tehran, Siraj congratulated Iran on successful missile tests and uranium enrichment. He said that Iran had translated “wishes of the Ummah” on international issues. Siraj is leading a Pakistani delegation on a five-day official visit to Iran to attend the Al-Quds Conference in Tehran. Siraj said nuclear capability guaranteed effective defence that was the right of every nation for the balance of power and ensure peace. He pledged support to the Iranian government and people in this respect, saying that imperial powers could not separate the people of Pakistan and Iran. Siraj told the Iranian president about the working of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal government for the development of the NWFP, prosperity of its people and enforcement of Sharia. Mr Nejad thanked the Pakistani people and leaders for supporting the Iranian stance and said that the Iranian nuclear programme was aimed for peaceful purposes. “Imperials are against it because they consider it to be an obstacle in their expansionist and aggressive designs,” he said. Siraj also held formal and informal meetings with various delegates of Al Quds Conference in Tehran, including Hamas leader and Palestinian Foreign Minister Khalid Mashal, Algerian Trade Minister Abdul Jarah, Afghan Senator Dr Mengal, former Iraq president Mohsin Abdul Hameed and parliamentary delegations of other Islamic countries. Senator Professor Muhammad Ibrahim Khan and Abdul Ghaffar Aziz accompanying Siraj worked as interpreters in meetings with these delegates. Siraj discussed matters of mutual interest with the delegates including bilateral relations and integrity, prosperity of the Ummah. He also invited them to visit Pakistan and the NWFP in particular. Siraj also met Um-e-Nezal, the mother of four Palestinian youths martyred in Israeli bombardment. He invited her to visit Pakistan. He said slogans and anti-imperialism feelings in the conference showed hatred of the Muslim community against aggressive forces. |
| Posted by:john |
| #8 And this is the kicker Although this country is home to 150 million people, there are perhaps fewer than 20 computer scientists of sufficient calibre who could possibly get tenure-track positions at some B-grade US university. In physics, even if one roped in every competent physicist in the country, it would not be possible to staff even one single good department of physics. As for mathematics: it is impossible to find even five real mathematicians in Pakistan. The social sciences are no better. And Pakistan claims to develop atomic weapons and ballistic missiles?? |
| Posted by: john 2006-04-16 23:17 |
| #7 But don't worry.. Pakistan has received hundreds of millions of dollars of American aid money to reform education... Perv has a brilliant idea on how to use this largesse ... soon they will have as many PhDs as India More from Hoodbhoy... By such sleight of hand the current tally of public universities, according to the HEC website, is now officially 47, up from the 23 officially listed in 1996. In addition, there are eight degree awarding public sector institutes. Unfortunately, this is merely a numbers game. All new public sector universities lack infrastructure, libraries, laboratories, adequate faculty, or even a pool of students academically prepared to study at the university level. But wait... it gets better The casual disregard for quality is most obvious in the HEC's massive PhD production programme. This involves enrolling 1,000 students in Pakistani universities every year for PhD degrees. Thereby Pakistan's "PhD deficit" (it produces less than 50 PhDs per annum at present) will supposedly be solved and it will soon be at par with India. In consequence, an army of largely incapable and ignorant students, armed with hefty HEC fellowships, has sallied forth to write PhD theses. Although the HEC claims that it has checked the students through a "GRE type test" (the American graduate school admission test), a glance at the question papers reveals it to be only a shoddy literacy and numeric test. In my department, advertised as the best physics department in the country, the average PhD student now has trouble with high-school level physics and even with reading English. Nevertheless there are as many as 18 PhD students registered with one supervisor! In the QAU biology department, that number rises to 37 for one supervisor. HEC incentives have helped dilute PhD qualifying exams to the point where it is difficult for any student not to pass. The implications of this mass-production of PhDs are dire. Very soon hundreds and, in time, thousands of worthless PhDs will be cranked out. They will train even less competent students. |
| Posted by: john 2006-04-16 23:15 |
| #6 It doesn't get better for other muslim countries... There are 57 member-countries of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), and all of them put together have around 500 universities; one university for every three million Muslims. The United States has 5,758 universities and India has 8,407. In 2004, Shanghai Jiao Tong University compiled an 'Academic Ranking of World Universities', and intriguingly, not one university from Muslim-majority states was in the top-500. |
| Posted by: john 2006-04-16 20:47 |
| #5 jeez and I just paid for my MBA tuition at a Pak Madrassah...using my proceeds from my Nigerian partnership with the widow of Sani Abacha (RIP) |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-04-16 20:21 |
| #4 Most Pak missiles are repainted NoKo units. The others were bought from China. Pakistan has not mastered the ability to make high speed lathes. It cannot make a tractor. All of Pakistan's universities produce less than 50 PhDs a year. Don't ask how many are in science. Between 1947 and 1986 the total number of Ph.D's produced in the sciences by all Pakistani universities and research institutes was 128. 128 PhDs in 40 years. The quality is also poor. According to Prof Pervez Hoodbhoy... "In the period 1990-1994, Pakistani physicists, chemists, and mathematicians produced a pitiful 0.11 percent, 0.13 percent, and 0.05 percent respectively of the world's research publications. Pakistan's total share of world research output in 1994 was just 0.08 percent. These painfully small numbers are even more painful if one also looks at the usefulness of these papers, also measured by the Institute. The average number of citations per paper was around 0.3, which is barely above zero. In other words, an overwhelming majority of papers by Pakistani scientists had zero impact on their field" Don't believe for one instant that Pakistan can design an atomic bomb or a ballistic missile. |
| Posted by: john 2006-04-16 19:21 |
| #3 The Paki might as well turn over to Iran some complete units of their nuke missiles to Iran and not let the Nodongs corner the lucrative market. |
| Posted by: Duh! 2006-04-16 19:03 |
| #2 shame if Sirajul's plane did a Zia landing |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-04-16 17:25 |
| #1 Sirajul Haq and Ahmadinejad can share a bunker when the B-52s arrive... |
| Posted by: john 2006-04-16 11:46 |