ISLAMABAD, MAY 09 (DNA) — Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Professor Ahsan Iqbal on Tuesday said it was the era of the knowledge economy in which Pakistan needed world-class human resources and creative minds to get solutions to the coming age of ‘the greatest technological disruptions.’

“We have not seen anything yet. It is just the tip of the iceberg as ChatGPT is merely a trailer. We cannot even imagine what wonders artificial intelligence and quantum computing are going to do in future,” he said while addressing an event titled “Crypto Graphic Insight Tomorrow” here at the NUST Auditorium of National Science and Technology Park (NSTP).

He said Pakistan was entering a ‘big disruptive age’ wherein the minds of ‘status quo’ would not work but the creative ones only. “It is an economic and very competitive world today as each country is in a cut-throat competition with another country,” he said highlighting the importance of getting familiar with the modern trends to compete in the international market.

He also cited examples from the glorious past of Muslim countries due to knowledge and education which was matching with today’s developed nations in the West. Sharing a tutorial developed by the University of Calgary on Muslim Spain, the minister said scientific knowledge, architecture, mathematics and philosophy flourished in Spain during the rule of the Umayyads in Spain.

He said the tutorial noted “Throughout the holy Qur’an there is a strong emphasis on the value of knowledge. Muslims believe that Allah is all knowing; and the human world’s quest for knowledge, leads to further knowing Allah . . . . they also believe human knowledge is not perfect and requires constant exploration and advancement through research and experimentation.”

Ahsan Iqbal said Pakistan suffered a lot during the last 75 years due to political instability and lack of continuity, adding it was unfortunate that the education projects initiated by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government during its last tenure from 2013-18 were abandoned by the PTI government, which caused billions of rupees loss to the national exchequer.

The PML-N government, he said, had started a number of higher education projects to provide equal opportunities to the youth by setting up more university campuses across the country even in the far-flung localities. Under the vision, the minister said, the government had to plan to include the country’s top 10-12 universities in the list of top 100 varsities of Asia.

Similarly, he said the economic policies and China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects faced considerable dent during the tenure of PTI government, which caused serious damage to the national economy and development.

He recalled that there was an economic boom during the PML-N last tenure, adding in 2017 ambassadors of developed countries including America, Britain, Japan, Germany and France were showing keen interest to invest in the Special Economic Zones (SEZs), under the CPEC.

The minister said it was the PML-N government that had effectively tackled the confronted challenges of security and prolonged electricity, but unfortunately, the process of national development and prosperity was derailed. — DNA