Pak to name physics centre after Salam
In a surprise move, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Monday approved in principle the renaming of a physics centre at a leading university after Abdus Salam, Pakistan’s first Nobel laureate who has been shunned in recent years because he belongs to the persecuted Ahmadi minority.
The government announced that the National Centre for Physics at Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad as the "Professor Abdus Salam Center for Physics". Sharif directed the education ministry to make a formal proposal for the move, which coincided with the 20th death anniversary of Salam.
Sharif approved the grant of five annual fellowships in the name of Salam to Pakistani students pursuing a PhD in physics at reputed international universities. The decision was made in recognition of the contributions of Salam, a major figure in 20th century theoretical physics. He shared the 1979 Nobel Prize for his contributions in the field.
Salam was also the second person from an Islamic country to receive any Nobel Prize. However, Pakistan has usually shied away from owning Salam as he belonged to the Ahmadi minority, which was officially declared “non-Muslim” in 1974. Local media reported Salam’s 20th death anniversary on Monday had passed without any significant mention of him. The only event in his memory was scheduled at his alma mater, the Government College University in Lahore, but that too was postponed.
Salam died on November 21, 1996 in Oxford, UK but not a single ceremony has ever been organised in Pakistan to commemorate his death or to praise his contributions in science because he belongs to the Ahmadi community, which has been attacked and persecuted since its members were declared non-Muslims.
Community spokesperson Saleemudin told a newspaper that Salam, as an Ahmadi, faced this discrimination in his life and it had continued afterwards as well. “He was a hero for Pakistan. But I have never seen his portraits along with other heroes put up on national days,” he said.