Mother of all solutions

ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani engineer, Agha Waqar Ahmad, has claimed that he has invented a water kit that enables vehicles to run on water. Following this ‘invention’, railway locomotives will no longer need any diesel; just fill the fuel tank with distilled water and off you go to Karachi. Flying on water, PIA will come out of the red and will soon regain its clientele. Forget power cuts, just put two litres of water in the generator and sleep soundly throughout the night.

The implications of the so-called invention are mindboggling indeed. To start with, all physics textbooks will need to be revised. Entire chapters on thermodynamics may have to be deleted. With cheap energy available domestically, who will need to import oil from the Middle East? Export of water kit fitted cars to other countries will earn billions of dollars for the country. Our finance minister will then become a strong candidate for the post of the next director general of the IMF. And, of course, the Nobel Prize for physics for the great inventor.

Only time will tell whether Agha Ahmad is a conman or a great scientist, but he has certainly proved himself to be a great media manager. Well-known TV anchors are badgering the government to provide a few millions to him to set up a water kit plant. What is odd is that the only specimen so far on display is the one fitted in his own car. His reluctance to patent his invention indicates lack of confidence in his own kit. He should remember that the moment he produces a satisfied customer, he will no longer need to run after sponsors. The sponsors will run after him. Pakistanis must remember that we have among us several fake scientists, who keep appearing on the media from time to time. One of them even claimed that he could disprove Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity.

Dr Faiz Ahmad

Published in The Express Tribune, August 3^rd, 2012.