Two Pakistani scientists are known throughout the world. Disgraced engineer A. Q. Khan helped the country get the bomb. By contrast, Pervez Hoodbhoy has spent more than 30 years opposing it. A professor of physics at Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad, Hoodbhoy is a long-time critic of religious extremism, irrationality and military rule. With the regime of President Pervez Musharraf facing an uncertain future, Hoodbhoy has emerged as an unlikely pioneer of the pro-democracy movement. Ehsan Masood caught up with him during a meeting of the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World in Trieste, Italy.
There are daily demonstrations in…
