ISLAMABAD, Feb 16: President Pervez Musharraf on Saturday stressed the need for setting up a multi-billion dollar research and development (R&D) fund by pooling the resources of the Islamic world, saying it was the right path if the Ummah wanted to be heard around the globe.

“I am not asking for funds for Pakistan, rather modalities could be worked out by creating a transparent fund under the control of the Islamic Development Fund (IDB),” the president said, while speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the 10th meeting of the OIC ministerial standing committee on scientific and technological cooperation (Comstech) held at the convention centre.

The president also asked the gathering to make a solemn pledge to wage “Jihad-i-Akbar” against illiteracy, poverty and backwardness.

The Muslim scholars, religious leaders and social scientists, President Musharraf said, were faced with new responsibilities of propagating the teachings of Islam to remove erroneous impression created against the Muslims.

The present contributions by the Islamic world for the Comstech was mere a fit in and such lip service would take us nowhere, the president said. “Therefore I intend to send Prof Dr Attaur Rehman as my emissary to different Islamic countries with a blue print of the scheme for the development of such R&D fund,” he added.

Time has come that the Islamic world should act correctly in the right direction as for too long we were paying lip service, which has eventually led us to the present sorry state, he added.

“We are calling each other brothers without understanding the real meaning of the word. We must act and understand the obligations of brothers,” he said.

The Muslim countries were involved in different conflicts due to which they were also sufferings. Our blood boils to see the plight of the Palestinians brothers or the bloodshed of the Bosnians Muslims, but we were helpless and could do nothing, the president deplored.

There was a dire need to organize and develop scientific and technological research and pool the resources of the OIC member states for using science and technology as an engine of economic growth and national development, he said.

Pointing towards the sorry state, the President said the Muslim countries were the poorest of all, the most illiterate, backward, unhealthy, unenlightened, most deprived and weakest of the human race.

The Muslim Ummah comprised 1/4th of the world and holds 70 per cent of the resources yet the combine gross domestic product (GDP) of the Islamic countries was $1200 billion. As against this, the GDP of Japan alone was $5,500 billion, Germany over $1000 billion, Austria with a population of just 8 million has a GDP of $208 billion. Turkey was the only example among the Muslim countries which has a GDP of $185 billion.

There were only 430 universities in the Islamic world while Japan alone has 1,000 universities. The entire Muslim world produces 500 PhDs in science every year while Britain alone produces 3,000 PhDs in science annually.

“This is the true heart-breaking state of our deprivation specially when we relate this to our glorious past when the transfer of technology takes place from us and when the West looked towards us,” he said.

“However there is no need to be despondent as we can rise again since we have all the resources. But we have to cooperate with each other by gracious sharing of resources both intellectual and financial,” he said.

Let us open centre of excellence where deserving Muslim students could get scholarship to spread knowledge when they return to their country.

We have to generate funds, the president said, adding that the political power also flows from economic development. It was important, he said, to aggressively address the problems the Muslim countries were facing and then effectively implement the strategies.

The President said Comstech could play a pivotal role in disseminating scientific knowledge among the Islamic world, saying it was high time to make a radical shift towards strong commitment to concrete actions by doing things instead of merely talking.

On the occasion, the President also conferred three Comstech awards for the year 2000-01 on three scientists on their contribution in the fields of chemistry, biology and bio-engineering.

He also opened an exhibition of books authored by science and technology minister Prof Dr Attaur Rehman.