Daily Times

Sir: Development and research in the sciences and technology are essential features of a modern society today. The political establishments all over the developed world appoint specialists in concerned fields to guard, guide and navigate the country. They do not leave things for the bureaucracy dominated by men who are jacks-of-all-trades. The decision on the feasibility of the Thar Coal project should have been vested with a team of relevant specialists, instead of bureaucracy dominated by beneficiaries of kickbacks and commissions that accrue from imports. Our present predicament is enough to expose the incompetence of this bureaucracy.

It is embarrassing to watch in this age of science our media involved in sensationalising the unsubstantiated claims of having invented a water-kit capable of producing energy to drive engines. It is unfortunate that leading television anchors (including Hamid Mir) are giving exposure to such ridiculous fantasies in these times when the Internet would have revealed that hydrogen can be extracted from water through electrolysis, a fact as old as the establishment of the chemical composition of water. The media could have sought the services of our universities or scientific research institutions, instead of making a monkey of a nation with nuclear capability.

It is important to understand that the metallurgical composition of engines depends on the combustion characteristics of the fuels used. Research is being done to manufacture an affordable metallurgy engine capable of withstanding the high temperatures of Hydrogen fuel. It took South Korea decades of research to acquire metallurgical technology capable of withstanding temperatures to endure the combustion of petroleum fuel. The metallurgical composition of engines by reputed automobile manufacturers is a guarded secret. Pakistan even today has the mere capability to assemble motor vehicles with imported engine kits.

Media organisations need to understand that Pakistan’s image as a country having a human resource capable of scientific and technological development suffers when such unsubstantiated fake claims are telecast without research.

MALIK TARIQ ALI

Lahore