Let us start this piece with a history lesson:

Dr Abdus Salam was a Pakistani theoretical physicist. He was born on January 29, 1926 and he passed away on November 21, 1996. In 1979, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for his work on the electroweak unification theory. This made him one of the most important physicists of the 21st century.

He was the first Pakistani, and the second from a Muslim country to win a Nobel Prize.

“I was born in the country town of Jhang, then part of British India, now Pakistan, in 1926. My father was a teacher and educational official in the Department of Education and my mother was a housewife. I had 6 brothers and 1 sister. My family was by no means rich.”

– Excerpt from Abdus Salam’s essay, ‘Science and Scientists in Developing Countries’

However, in 1953 anti-Ahmaddiya riots started in Pakistan. In several parts of Punjab, hundreds of Ahmadis were feared to be executed.

Dr. Abdus Salam also belonged to the same belief, and Pakistanis were ready (still are) to overlook everything else for that. He left the country in 1974 in protest over the enactment of a constitutional amendment that declared Ahmadis as non-Muslims, but in doing so did not sever links with the scientific community in Pakistan.

In 1980, soon after he had won his Nobel Prize, he was invited to Quaid-i-Azam University for a ceremony. But the programme had to be called off because the students affiliated to Jamaat-e-Islami called for agitation.

“The ceremony was organised to honour Dr Salam, and was to be held at QAU’s Department of Physics, which was founded by one of his former students, Dr Riazuddin. The situation grew extremely tense; I clearly remember, they were threatening that they would break Dr Salam’s legs if he dared enter the university campus; we had to call off the programme.”

– Pervez Hoodbhoy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TT4YKd35DJQ

The country as a collective refuses to acknowledge the genius – Dr Abdus Salam – for his work and for his contributions for Pakistan, purely because of his faith.

On November 21, it was Dr Abdus Salam’s 21st death anniversary and these Pakistanis commemorated him on Twitter

1. Ayesha pointed out how we have disowned him

2. Adil Najam shared his own column about Pakistan’s finest son

3. Mian Rashid pointed out how proud he is of Dr. Salam.

4. J.J pointed out how the whole world recognises him.

https://twitter.com/JazminJaed/status/932854876710801408

5. Shoaib Bajwa shared a beautiful quote by him.

6. Ahmed we agree with you, #SalamtujheSalam

https://twitter.com/Dr_Ehmad/status/932910876193099776

7. Aon Hussain pointed out how another anniversary is passing by without us paying a tribute to him

8. Faisal Yaqoon shared a rare video of Dr Saab with PTV

9. Ahmed Siddiqui pointed out how we lost a gem.

10. Mian Rashid had a message for him and he said that we all remember his hard work for Pakistan.

11. GCU remembered its alumnus on his death anniversary.

12. Natasha pointed out how we need books and movies and shows to cover him.

13. The Wire Urdu shared a picture of his birth place

Yes, they’re technically not Pakistani but since they remembered our hero, we think of them as an honorary Pakistani platform.

 

Cover image via: dawn.com