KARACHI: Dr Abdus Salam, the Scientific Adviser to the Prime Minister, said … yesterday [Dec 29] that Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had given his blessings for the setting up of the Islamic Science Foundation. In an Airport interview … the physicist of international repute said that the proposal, originally mooted by late Raja Saheb of Mahmoodabad, aimed at setting up of the Foundation with an initial capital of 250 million dollars to be raised from the 22 members of the Islamic Secretariat. … The Foundation would train 25,000 scientists and technologists. It would also set up research centres and defence projects.

[News agencies add,] Prof Abdus Salam has disputed the theory that matter is made of two basic entities — proton and electron. Talking to newsmen … he said that his new proposal was published three months ago. Prof Salam … said that he believed that matter was made [of] only one type of basic matter — electron — or its family, and that proton was not stable. He said if his belief was proven by experiments, this would be a major breakthrough in the field of science. He said that an American professor … would conduct experiments on this new proposal.

Published in Dawn, December 30th, 2023