Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Science and Technology Chaudhry Fawad Hussain Wednesday said there was definitely no delay on part of the government in sending former prime minister Nawaz Sharif aboard for medical treatment and it seemed that PML-N was least interested to redress the issue.

Talking to media persons after attending Pakistan’s first Artificial Intelligence Summit at a local hotel, he said “Nawaz Sharif will have to deposit security
bonds which he will get back on his return.”

He said it will definitely set a precedent for others as if the government allowed Nawaz Sharif to go abroad without any guarantee, then Asif Ali Zardari and Khursheed Shah may ask for some relaxation in the future.

He said it will not be an issue for the government if the court removed Nawaz Sharif’s name from Exit Control List.

The decision to send former prime minister Nawaz Sharif abroad for treatment was taken on humanitarian grounds, he said and added the sub-committee had pointed out it did not find any such precedent in the past.

He said Nawaz Sharif has to submit a guarantee of his return to Pakistan as Ishaq Dar, Hussain Nawaz and Hassan Nawaz did not come back to the country despite giving assurance.

The federal minister said Shahbaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz, and Khawaja Asif were apparently waiting to grab the position of Nawaz Sharif.

About JUI Azadi March, Fawad Chaudhry said:” Fazal-ur-Rehman may go wherever he wants to go and we are here to watch him.”

Speaking at Artificial Intelligence Summit, Fawad Chaudhry said Pakistan Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR) was established in Pakistan back in 1952 which has emerged as a leading institution in the country.

The Minister said Pakistan was the first country to start fiber optic and added it could achieve substantial progress in the technology sector since it had to indulge in the Afghanistan war.

He lamented that lack of coordination between research and industry was the major hurdle in technology utilization.

He said National Database Registration Authority (NADRA) has collected data of 220 million people. “We have collected fingerprint data of 140 million mobile phones but we are unable to use that data,” he said while referring to the outstanding progress made by China in the use of data and technology.

Fawad Chaudhry also announced to increase the budgetary allocation of the technology sector by 50 percent in the next budget.

Speaking on the occasion, Chief Executive Officer, National Information Technology Board, Shabahat Ali Shah said around 20 years back, Pakistan was included in the top ten countries which adopted artificial intelligence but today Pakistan lagged behind in the sector.

He said artificial intelligence was the future of the world and Pakistan has to adopt modern trends of artificial intelligence to compete globally.

Currently , the world was carrying out experiments in artificial intelligence and a robotic-dog may be good addition which follows one’s instructions, he added.

He said artificial intelligence has three kinds including weak, strong and super strong. “The world is conducting experiments in super strong artificial intelligence but Pakistan still has to adopt the weak artificial intelligence”, he added.

Chief Technology Officer, EcoSystem, Huawei Company, George said today artificial intelligence was considered as the most reliable technology.

He said artificial intelligence works according to the human will and it can be easily used everywhere and added use of Ecosystem in private business education system was very useful.