Pakistan's elected governments should break the habit of a lifetime and give due priority to science. Military strongmen have ruled Pakistan for longer than elected politicians - and, paradoxically, have treated that nation's scientists far better than the much less stable civilian administrations.General Pervez Musharraf, whose nine-year rule ended with his resignation on 18 August, was a prime example: his regime greatly strengthened the foundations for a Pakistani knowledge economy, instituting reforms that included bigger research budgets, an ambitious university-building programme, a nationwide digital library, a scheme to attract international faculty, and performance-related pay for professors. Many of the changes have been praised in external evaluations within the past year, including those of the World Bank, the US Agency for International Development and the British Council.
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