At the turn of the 21st century, Pakistan was lagging far behind in this respect. Our universities were poorly equipped, our research output was negligible and our brightest minds were leaving the country for lack of opportunities. It was in this environment that I was entrusted first with the portfolio of federal minister of science and technology in March 2000, and later with the responsibility of founding chairman of the Higher Education Commission in 2002. What followed was a decade of transformation that changed the very landscape of higher education and research in Pakistan, earning our country unprecedented recognition worldwide.

As federal minister, my first priority was to modernise our scientific infrastructure. I launched large-scale programmes to equip universities and research centers with advanced instrumentation – nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometers, X-ray diffractometers, gene sequencers, high-performance computing clusters – tools without which meaningful research is impossible. Budgets for science were increased several-fold, surpassing all that had been allocated in the preceding half-century. A network of incubators and software technology parks was established to stimulate innovation. Bandwidth costs, which had been among the highest in the world, were slashed by over ninety percent, making internet access affordable for universities and laying the groundwork for our fledgling IT sector. Thousands of young men and women were trained in information technology and telecommunications.

In 2002, I was invited to create and lead the HEC. One of our boldest initiatives was the launch of massive PhD scholarship programmes. Over 11,000 of our brightest young students were sent abroad to top universities in the US, UK, Germany, China and other technologically advanced countries, with binding agreements to return and serve Pakistan for at least five years. At the same time, more than 5,000 scholars pursued doctoral studies within Pakistan under improved conditions.

To attract top talent, we introduced a tenure-track system, offering globally competitive salaries to faculty members. For the first time, a professor in Pakistan could earn four times as much as a federal minister in the government and merit rather than seniority became the criterion for advancement. Hundreds of foreign faculty members were recruited on generous packages to strengthen our universities, and their presence helped create a culture of professionalism and accountability. A national digital library was established, providing every student and researcher in Pakistan with free access to over 25,000 international journals and 65,000 electronic books.

This was a revolution. Suddenly, a young researcher in Peshawar or Quetta had the same access to cutting-edge literature as peers in Cambridge or Harvard. It removed the excuse that Pakistani scholars could not compete because they were isolated from the global academic community. We coupled this with training in research methodology, plagiarism detection systems, and strict quality assurance frameworks to ensure that quality was not sacrificed in favour of quantity and that our output met international standards. For the first time, our universities were subjected to peer review and accreditation that aligned with global standards.

The impact was dramatic. Research publications from Pakistan have increased exponentially, from fewer than 1,000 per year at the start of the century to over 6,000 annually within a decade and to approximately 40,000 now. Fields such as biotechnology, nanotechnology, information technology and engineering flourished in institutions that had previously languished in mediocrity. New universities and centres of excellence were established and expanded, including the Baluchistan University of Information Technology and Management Sciences in Quetta, the National University of Science & technology in Islamabad, the National Centre for Physics in Islamabad, the Mehran University of Engineering and Technology in Sindh and the International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences in Karachi. These became hubs not only for local talent but also for international collaboration.

Equally important was the transformation of our IT and engineering manpower. Thousands of highly trained professionals emerged from our universities and research centers during this period, armed with the latest skills and supported by modern infrastructure. Many individuals entered the private sector, driving the growth of our IT exports, which began to rise sharply. Others joined defence-related projects, contributing to advances in avionics, radar, satellite imaging and cyber defence.

When Pakistan successfully defended its airspace in 2019 and shot down six Indian aircraft, including the latest French Rafale planes, it was on the strength of the human capital nurtured during the first decade of this century. The IT professionals and engineers who played key roles in building and maintaining our defence technologies were products of the reforms that we had initiated.

It was a silent vindication of our vision: that national security in the 21st century depends on intellectual security. The Indian aircraft that were shot down in 2019 were not brought down merely by weapons; they were brought down by the minds that had been trained and empowered through our training programmes at top universities of the world.

The world took notice of Pakistan’s transformation. International agencies, such as Unesco, the World Bank and the UN Commission on Science and Technology for Development, have cited Pakistan as a model for developing countries. I was humbled to receive some of the highest awards and honours from around the world. The Austrian government conferred on me the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Technology.

The Chinese government not only honoured me with their highest award for foreign scientists but also established a research institute in my name at Hunan University of Chinese Medicine. In Malaysia, Universiti Teknologi MARA created the Atta-ur-Rahman Institute of Natural Product Discovery, dedicated to advancing the very field in which I had spent my research life. Perhaps the greatest personal honour was my election as a fellow of the Royal Society in London – the highest recognition for any scientist in the Commonwealth. I accepted all these awards not as personal achievements, but as tributes to Pakistan and to the countless students, teachers and colleagues whose hard work had made our reforms succeed.

The long-term effects of those reforms continue to have a lasting impact. Pakistan today has a vibrant community of scientists and engineers who are internationally visible. But the journey has only begun. The world is rapidly advancing into the era of artificial intelligence, biotechnology, quantum technologies, and nanoscience. Pakistan must not be left behind. The foundation has been laid, but now we must use this talent to transition to a powerful technology-driven knowledge economy, so that we can address the challenges for socio-economic development.

---