by Rao Javed

THERE ARE few foundations for science and technology without which the country cannot grow. We have developed thousands of colleges and hundreds of universities. But there is hardly any concrete working on the knowledge creation and innovation. All the work is indeed being copied from abroad. Most of the scientific innovations are being copied and produced here. At the time when the world is preparing the concepts of Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (ITRIPS), we cannot expect that the mere copying will benefit at all.

The real wealth of nations is not generated in the machines of the State Bank of Pakistan, or is not imported from abroad in the form of dollars and pounds.

The real wealth of nations is the knowledge we create in the form of scientific papers written and books and articles produced in the world for the betterment of the country at large. These are among the most important elements through which, sustainable and dependable wealth is generated for the nation.

One may ask, the factory owner is too wealthy and he is having too many workers to whom he pays. He has got number of vehicles and houses. He has got a huge bank balance. Why we claim that he is not of the actual wealth creator, if he is producing the items which are being sold in the market and then it is transported and he gets lot of money out of that.

There is simple answer to that. That is the wealth of a person and not the wealth of the community or the nation at large. If he is earning money out of the car producing factory, he did not invent it. The car was first invented in the west.

We have moral claims over the earth and have ability to define and legitimize (or declare illegitimate) all the other things around. We are quite unfortunate that despite having the moral claims, we do not have the ability to have the actual claim, nor to the level of 5 per cent. Yet we can destroy the world with the atomic bombs which we only copied from someone else. We did not even prepare any of these on our own. Why? Why after a long time like 64 years, we are unable to invent and produce any new technology? How we can claim to be the moral and God appointed vice-regents of the earth and its resources? Islam is not merely a code of moral values, it is very much agreed that Islam talks of the both; the world here and the world hereafter. Otherwise we are going to vanish away just like that of the Christianity which was challenged in the Europe and now there are very few people who are attached to it practically. Islamists must have capabilities to guide the people in the practical fields of life.

There is no claim over the knowledge and science. There is no claim over the minds and new theories and ideologies. There is no ownership of the thoughts of the people. So the mere ownership of a muslim of the earth resources just because that Allah has promised in the Quran that” the only pious people own the resources of the earth”.

So the foundations of the wealth and the real wealth of nation is neither the agriculture nor the factory production. It is the science and innovation. It is the new technologies produced and new ideas generated out of the minds. Otherwise, humans are equal in all manner. They can own and do the same moral codes which was bestowed upon muslims by the Prophet Muhamamd (SAWW). Wealth can buy everything, if not in the short run, it can do it in the long run, if the so called infidels decide to do so tomorrow.

If we innovate something, we can claim that it was invented in here; it has been designed and manufactured by our own labours, skilled and unskilled and we ourselves marketed it. This is a sustainable and dependable wealth which we can create and own without any hindrance over centuries even if the market needs it.

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