ISLAMABAD, July 29: Federal Minister for Education Javed Ashraf Qazi on Friday said that physics had permeated every strata of life. Be it environment, medicine, communication or space sciences, it has enormously proved its effectiveness for the benefit of mankind.

He was addressing the concluding ceremony of an international seminar on “Physics in Developing Countries: Past Present and Future” organized by the Commission on Science and Technology for Sustainable Development in the South (Comsats) and the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) here on Thursday.

The minister was critical of the pace at which the developing countries in general and Muslim countries in particular were progressing in the field of science and technology, especially in physics.

He emphasized the revitalisation of the education system prevailing in Pakistan. He also mentioned that the government was fully committed to streamlining the educational policies in order to bring them on a par with the rest of the world.

Experts from more than six countries covered a vast range of specific topics such as laser technology, space physics, solid- state physics, atomic spectrometry, physics for renewable energy, and highlighted the role of these important fields of for sustainable development.

The relevance of these sciences in the study of earth and its natural resources, reducing harmful emissions, providing adequate energy and other challenges that face humanity today were discussed in detail.

Some exciting research activities in this regard were discussed at length, which shed light on the dedicated efforts of physicists in the developing world.

Earlier, Dr Hameed Ahmed Khan, the Comsats executive director, presented the summary and recommendations of the seminar and explained that the Comsats was making all-out efforts within its mandate and capacity to promote socio-economic development in the south through applications of science and technology.

He also informed the gathering that the seminar had also served a very important purpose of bringing together national and international experience for the benefit of the developing countries.—Online