Netxpress Jun Edition 2002
Q: General
In what ways do you feel Pakistan’s “clean bill of health” from the US, will prove to be prosperous for the local IT industry? Could you point out any specific benefits?
Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman:
While the knee-jerk reaction of all international companies is being leery of Pakistan being in the war zone, I feel that the US is seriously considering the process of making some groundwork for Pakistan. Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman is writing to the US Ambassador in Pakistan with specific proposals and with some areas for assistance that our IT industry can use. Once this letter is discussed and some concrete proposals emerge, I will inform you about them.
Q: Human Resources
Do you have any plans to conduct surveys to assess how many people are involved in the field of Information Technology locally? How would you achieve something like this?
Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman:
We have had comprehensive discussions with PASHA and CSP and will be conducting several baseline surveys with their cooperation. An international company will also be commissioned to conduct a survey similar to the McKinsey survey in India. The Statistics Division is also conducting a nationwide survey, and again, professionals are involved in this process. Hopefully, we should become more informed people in a few months!
Q: Education
What progress has been made in terms of IT Accreditation? Has the process begun? There are still a lot of institutes that are more “kachra” than not. How do you plan to curb this kind of education practice?
Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman:
Finally, the decision has been taken to separate out the accreditation from the mainstream accreditation process of the UGC and Ministry of Education, as it was becoming very complicated and drawn out. The ordinance draft is in the pipeline, and as soon as it is there, we will launch the formal process with renewed vigor. Like I mentioned to you the last time, this is a difficult process to get into, and we will be consulting a lot of people on the modalities and extent of the process and reach of the MoST. Watch this space…
Q: E-Commerce/E-Governance
How much longer before e-commerce initiatives are put into place? What factors hinder progress for initiatives such as e-commerce and e-governance?
Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman:
Several reasons. The banking and financial systems have to have several things in place before we can really have e-commerce in action. A series of meetings and initiatives have been carried out by the Governor, State Bank, and we are assisting in these so that we can make a start. I would propose you speak to the different players on this and get a better feel. On our part, we are putting together a task force so that the necessary projects can be started without waiting for the whole picture to fall into place. There is a lot happening, and perhaps you may like to devote an issue for this purpose so that you can talk to all the players in this scene.
