Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman N.I., H.I., S.I., T.I.
The debate surrounding the proposed 28th Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan comes at a decisive moment in the country’s history.
Pakistan today stands at the crossroads of two vastly different futures. One path leads toward continued economic fragility, dependence on external borrowing, institutional decay, unemployment, and technological backwardness. The other path leads toward the emergence of a technologically advanced, export-oriented knowledge economy driven by science, innovation, meritocracy, and strategic international partnerships. The difference between these two futures depends fundamentally on the quality of governance and the national priorities chosen over the next two decades.
Pakistan’s greatest challenge is not the lack of natural resources, nor the absence of talent among its people. The central challenge is the absence of a long-term, science-driven national development framework led by competent professionals capable of making evidence-based decisions. The rapid technological transformation occurring globally demands governance systems that are highly informed, technologically literate, strategically focused, and insulated from short-term political compulsions.
A technocrat government does not imply the elimination of democracy. Rather, it means strengthening democracy through competence, expertise, institutional continuity, and scientific decision-making. Modern economies have become too complex to be governed solely through traditional political patronage systems. Artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, biotechnology, semiconductor manufacturing, advanced materials, robotics, renewable energy systems, cybersecurity, space sciences, nanotechnology, and digital manufacturing are reshaping the global balance of power. Countries unable to adapt to these transformations risk economic irrelevance.
South Korea is among the finest examples. In the 1960s, South Korea was poorer than many developing countries, including Pakistan. However, through visionary leadership, massive investment in education, strategic industrial planning, and strong collaboration between government, universities, and industry, South Korea transformed itself into a global technological powerhouse. Companies such as Samsung, Hyundai, LG, and SK Hynix became symbols of technological excellence. The South Korean state played a central role in nurturing these industries through export-oriented industrialization policies, technology transfer mechanisms, and research support systems. Similar examples are available under the leadership of Lee Kuan Yew in Singapore and Deng in China. These transformations were not accidental. They resulted from strategic planning, long-term industrial policies, large-scale investments in science and engineering education, and deep integration between academia and industry. China now leads or competes globally in areas such as electric vehicles, telecommunications, artificial intelligence, quantum communication, renewable energy technologies, battery technologies, high-speed rail systems, and advanced manufacturing.
Pakistan must carefully study these examples because the same principles can be adapted to its own national circumstances. The future of Pakistan cannot depend on exporting raw materials or low-value products. Sustainable prosperity can only emerge through the development of high-value, technology-intensive industries capable of competing in global markets. One of the greatest opportunities for Pakistan lies in building a deep strategic partnership with China centered around technology transfer, joint manufacturing, innovation ecosystems, and export-oriented industrialization. China possesses advanced manufacturing capacity, technological expertise, financial resources, and industrial ecosystems. Pakistan possesses a large youthful population, strategic geographic location, expanding university infrastructure, and significant untapped human potential. The combination of these strengths can create a transformative economic partnership if managed intelligently.
The proposed development model should move beyond traditional infrastructure projects and focus increasingly on joint high-technology manufacturing platforms. A highly effective framework would involve the creation of “QUAD” partnerships consisting of four key stakeholders: Chinese universities, Pakistani universities, Chinese industries, and Pakistani industries. Each QUAD partnership could focus on the joint development and export of a specific high-value product or technology platform. Examples could include advanced batteries, electric vehicles, biotechnology products, medical devices, semiconductor packaging, precision agriculture systems, aerospace components, robotics systems, pharmaceuticals, artificial intelligence software platforms, renewable energy systems, and advanced materials.
The central pillar supporting this transformation must be education. No country has ever become technologically advanced without first investing heavily in high-quality education. Pakistan must therefore radically reform its educational priorities. The emphasis must shift from rote memorization toward critical thinking, creativity, scientific reasoning, digital literacy, entrepreneurship, and research capacity. Pakistan requires thousands of highly trained engineers, computer scientists, data scientists, AI specialists, materials scientists, biotechnologists, robotics engineers, and semiconductor experts. Universities must be modernized with advanced laboratories, international faculty collaborations, strong research funding mechanisms, and close industrial linkages.
The Higher Education Commission played a transformative role during the early 2000s under my stewardship when significant investments were made in university development, international scholarships, digital libraries, and research infrastructure. Pakistan witnessed dramatic growth in scientific publications, university enrollments, and research activity during this period. However, this momentum later weakened because of inconsistent policies, political instability, and declining investments in higher education and research. The country must once again place universities at the center of national development planning and transform them into entrepreneurial institutions as exemplified by the Pakistan Austria Fachhochschule set up under my guidance.
Emerging technologies offer Pakistan unprecedented opportunities to leapfrog traditional stages of development. Artificial intelligence alone has the potential to revolutionize agriculture, healthcare, education, finance, governance, logistics, and manufacturing. AI-driven precision agriculture can significantly increase crop yields while reducing water consumption. Biotechnology represents another major opportunity. Pakistan possesses strong potential in pharmaceutical sciences, agricultural biotechnology, vaccine production, bioinformatics, and industrial biotechnology. Investment in biotechnology research centers linked with industry could create high-value export sectors while simultaneously improving healthcare and food security. Similarly, the global semiconductor industry is undergoing major geopolitical restructuring. Pakistan may not immediately compete in advanced chip fabrication, but it can participate in semiconductor packaging, testing, embedded systems, electronics manufacturing, and chip design services. Countries such as Malaysia and Vietnam successfully entered global electronics supply chains through such gradual industrial integration strategies.
A technocrat-led governance system should be planned under the 28th Amendment to our Constitution. National economic planning would then become evidence-based and performance-oriented. Ministries dealing with finance, education, science, technology, energy, trade, and industry should be led by individuals possessing deep professional expertise in their respective fields and not politicians with superficial knowledge.
Research and development expenditure must also increase dramatically though legal mandates provided under the Constitution. Advanced economies invest between 2% and 5% of GDP in research and innovation. Pakistan currently spends only a tiny fraction of this amount. Without serious investment in scientific research, indigenous technological development will remain impossible. National research funds should support strategic areas including artificial intelligence, biotechnology, renewable energy, nanotechnology, advanced materials, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, and defence technologies. The private sector must become an active partner in innovation. In advanced economies, industry funds a substantial portion of research and development activities. Pakistan must create incentives encouraging industrial investment in research collaborations with universities. Technology parks, startup incubators, venture capital systems, and innovation grants should become central A technocrat-led national transformation strategy could fundamentally change this trajectory. The proposed constitutional reforms should therefore place science, technology, innovation, education, industrial modernization, and meritocratic governance at the very center of national policy. A technocrat-oriented governance framework, operating within a democratic constitutional structure, could provide the institutional stability and expertise necessary for this transformation.
We must also emerge from the shackles of superstition. The continued massacre of 73,000 innocent Muslim men, women and children in Gaza and now another 3500 souls in South Lebanon have shown that no angels will descend from the heavens to save us from the enemy. Our salvation lies in us helping ourselves through massive investments in quality education, science, technology and innovation. In this context, the establishment of a technocrat-led governance structure within a democratic constitutional framework through the next amendments to our Constitution could become one of the most transformative reforms in Pakistan’s modern history.
The time is now. Tomorrow will be too late.
—The author is former Federal Minister of Science & Technology, former Federal Minister of Education, UNESCO Science Laureate and founding Chairman Higher Education Commission. He can be reached at [email protected]
