The Muslim Times’ Editor for Pakistan
Credit: Dawn.com
AFP | 1 day ago
JHANG: The two-room bungalow, the birth place of Pakistan’s only Nobel laureate, today stands empty, testament to the indifference, bigotry and prejudice surrounding the country’s greatest scientist.
Professor Abdus Salam, the child prodigy born to a humble family on the sun-blasted plains of Punjab who won accolades all over the world for his ground-breaking research in theoretical physics, is all but forgotten.
He was the trailblazer who helped pave the way to the recently hailed discovery of the “God particle” — one of the greatest achievements in science for the last 100 years — but as the world went into overdrive, Pakistan stayed largely silent.
Not even boasting from India, whose late physicist Satyendra Nath Bose also contributed to the discovery, snapped Pakistan out of lethargy.
And the reason? Because in the eyes of the law, Salam was a heretic.
“Our people are not educated. They just know this is the house of Dr Salam, who was a scientist, and they, including me, are unaware of his contributions. They also know he was Ahmadi,” said local resident Kamran Kishwar, 23.
One of the most religiously polarised towns in Pakistan, Jhang, 188 miles southwest of Islamabad, is home to thousands of Ahmadis and tensions run high between the community and mainstream Muslims.
Ahmadis, were declared non-Muslims in 1974 as part of Islamisation. more
I visited the house of Nobel laureate Dr Abdus Salam in Jhang March 2009. The house situated in the densely populated part of the city, with narrow streets, fruit vendors doing not too far from the house. The house was locked, when my driver told the neighbour that i was from Canada, he went to a house nearby and brought the key to open the lock. normally the house is manned by a security guard, but he was away. I went inside the house, checked the empty rooms, washroom, the small courtyard and then took the stairs to go to the roof. I took pictures, there was a tablet outside the house above the entrance – stating in Urdu this is the house of Nobel Laureate Dr Salam.
It appeared no one looked after the house, it was in a miserable state. Kids from the neighbourhood gathered outside the house, i took their pictures. later we went to the ahmadi mosque where Dr Salam used to offer prayers. then we met one of the cousins (phopi ka beta) who is a businessman.