Ishfaq Ahmad

Who is Ishfaq Ahmad?

Ishfaq Ahmad, is a Pakistani nuclear scientist, emeritus professor of high-energy physics at the National Center for Physics. He is Chairman of the Board of Governors of the National Center for Physics, Islamabad, and has been Special Advisor to the Prime Minister and Advisor to the Planning Commission of Pakistan.[1]

In 1960, he joined PAEC at Sr. Scientific Officer and was allowed to proceed abroad for postdoc work at several world renowned institutions such as Niels Bohr Institute of Physics at Copenhagen; University of Montreal, Canada; University of Paris – Sorbonne, France. Finally, he settled down for work at the Lahore Centre of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission in 1965. Ahmad served at various key positions in PAEC, such as Director Training, Secretary PAEC, Director of the Atomic Energy Centre, Lahore and Director of the Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology, Islamabad. He became a Member of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission in 1975, raised to the position of Senior Member in 1988 and Chairman of the Commission in 1991. During his tenure as Member/Sr. Member, PAEC he was responsible for supervising technical work on fuel cycle and the needs for development of nuclear capability. In his capacity as Chairman PAEC, he has been heading the country's delegation at IAEA. He also served as elected chairman of the Board of Governors of the international agency, working to make the peaceful use of nuclear power for the national development. A vehement supporter for the peaceful use of nuclear energy, he earned public and international fame in May 1998 when he oversaw and directed PAEC to perform country's first public atomic tests in a secret weapon-testing laboratories in Balochistan Province of Pakistan.[2] After retiring from PAEC in 2001, he was asked to serve as Sp. Advisor to the then Chief Executive and later the Prime Minister, on strategic program of the Country, with a status of a Federal Minister. In 2008, his services were placed at the disposal of the planning commission of Pakistan and he was given a designation as Advisor, with the status of Minister of State. During his stay at the Prime Minister's Secretariat and at the Planning Commission, he developed a strong interest in the science of climate change and established the country first climate change research and policy oriented centre namely Global Change Impact Studies Centre. He, served as chairman of the national task force on climate change and led the preparation of country's first climate change policy published in 2010, while he was acting Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission