Some previous court rulings hindrance in tech uplift: Fawad

RAWALPINDI: Federal Minister for Science and Technology Chaudhry Fawad Hussain Wednesday said some previous court decisions hindered the technological progress in the country which was unfortunate.

"Technological progress received a big blow in our country due to some previous court decisions," he said while addressing at the two-day international media conference titled "Digital Media Ecologies in the New Normal Challenges and Opportunities" at the Fatima Jinnah Women University (FJWU), Rawalpindi. The minister said Pakistan's relations with digital companies had been deteriorated due to some court decisions in the year 2014. Pakistan Telecommunication Authority's decision to ban TikTok earlier last year also caused damage to these relations, he said and lamented, "Ban culture in the country has affected every sector. I plead judges not to hear cases relating to digital media," he said.

Referring to some universities imposing strict dressing codes, Fawad advised against enforcing strict measures. "Those who want to wear jeans should be allowed to wear jeans. Others, who want to take an abaya should be allowed to do so," he said.

The minister pointed out that Pakistan would not be able to attract foreign investment, if it did not alter its state policies. "Unemployment will end when foreign investment will come to Pakistan", he added. "The state cannot regulate everything, let the individuals decide what to do. Political and economic independence mould an individual's life," he said.

Fawad advised students to choose the career they desired. "Those who want to study should study, but others who want to play video games should do that as well," he said. Gone were the days when a person excelled in life only if they studied hard, he said. "Nowadays, you find even a 20-year-old a billionaire," the minister added. He said the media industry had witnessed a big change twenty years ago and would change dramatically in the next decade. Now the media industry was moving towards digital so educational institutions should also include essays and articles in the syllabus in that regard, he said.

He said during the span of two and a half years, our universities had rapidly moved towards channels, Twitter, Facebook etcetera.

Talking about the country's power issues, he said Pakistan was generating electricity but encountering problems in its distribution. He said Pakistan would spend Rs140 billion on electricity transmission systems.

Fawad said he had also asked the energy minister to see if poles and wires would be needed in the next ten years or not. Around 50 percent of Europe's vehicles were running on electricity, he said, adding after electric vehicles in Pakistan, the mechanic would be the first to lose his job in the next ten years.

Meanwhile, Chaudhry Fawad Hussain Wednesday said his ministry was planning to install fog towers in Lahore by August this year to address the issue of smog.In a tweet, the minister stated that the primary reason of the fog in Lahore is burning of agriculture waste in East Punjab. He continues, evidence of this fact is that the meters show that the air at Wagah is much more polluted than Lahore city.

While the electric vehicles, on which the present government was eagerly focusing, will also help address this issue in the long term, he said. It is also pertinent to mention here that Lahore city was ranked the most polluted city in the world, according to air pollution data released by the US Air Quality Index during the last year.