Daily Times

Pakistan’s position on the geographic canvas is a product of geography and consequent challenges brought forward to its security are a product of dynamic forces at work at the domestic and regional level. However, the interplay of such forces doesn’t warrant seeking solace in ideas of geographical determinism. The idea behind this concept is that the geography predisposes people’s cognition, emotions and behaviour in any particular society. The concept, which dates back to the nineteenth century, discounted the factor of individual and collective human agency, which could actively shape societies’ behaviour. Although, not all developments are tell-tale of something undesirable. One such example is that of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).It places an onus on human agency to strive for development by overcoming and taming challenges posed by nature to promote connectivity and economic progress.

The direction for this mutual human agency between China and Pakistan is put in the CPEC’s Long Term Plan released by Pakistan and China’s collaborative effort. While discussing areas of key cooperation under the section of agriculture development and poverty alleviation, it underscores the use of remote sensing technology to identify, exploit, and manage water resources. However, remote sensing techniques are subject to exploitation and mastery of another area. This arena is that of the space.

Setting out this objective requires a coordination between relevant public and research institutions, particularly Institute of Space Technology, Indus River System Authority (IRSA), Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR), Water and Power Development Authority, and Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) and relevant provincial ministers. At present SUPARCO is offering different services on water courses, security and for Railway related projects, including the communication satellite PAKSAT-1R. So far, its remote sensing satellite (PRSS-1) is still in the pipeline,awaiting government’s approval. However, SUPARCO has announced the anticipated launch of PRSS-1 in March 2018.

This nascent step, when realised, will pave the way for building expertise in understanding and managing the terrestrial bodies. However, the other area which requires focus is mastery of launch vehicles and related infrastructure. This can be accomplished by promoting international cooperation with friendly countries and international space-related bodies. Exchange of knowledge and personnel will serve in meeting the technical human resource needs. Similarly, a focus on indigenisation will serve to promote and establish space sciences and technology as an industry in Pakistan.

Access to space will allow Pakistan to leverage its capability for the growth of the Information Communication Technologies and in meeting the economic needs of the country

Access to space will allow Pakistan to leverage its capability for the growth of the ICT (Information Communication Technologies) and in meeting the economic needs of the country. It will additionally help in complementing planning related aspects of Pakistan. Allowing policy makers and planners to study the changing dynamics of environments, particularly of residential areas, traffic volumes, water flow, changes in the forests, movement of wildlife, and identification of natural reserves for energy and consequently enable relevant planners to introduce proactive and required mitigation measures. It will similarly enable different state institutions to have an additional dimension added to its situational awareness for enhanced monitoring of an array of threats. Moreover, it offers the capability to exercise a more adaptive style of intervention to mitigate and minimise threats and risks. Most importantly, for the security and assessing the progress of CPEC related projects, which requires an adaptive approach to security and management.

At the technical level and the economic level, it could be important to learn from experiences of Israel, India and China that have been successful in optimising resources for space exploration. The same suit can be adopted by Pakistan for efficient utilisation of resources to meet its space exploration needs and adopting efficient technological methods.  However, given Pakistan’s quest for excelling in science and technology. Space is the very symbolic avenue, which deserves exploration for meeting needs of national development, security and excelling in science and technology.

The author is a research consultant at Islamabad Policy Research Institute. He can be reached at usama.research@gmail.com

Published in Daily Times, January 27^th 2018.