Ahsan Mashkoor, Chairman and Co-Founder of WAI Advanced Industries Pvt Ltd, has announced his candidacy for a seat on the PASHA Central Executive Committee for the 2026 to 2028 term, contesting from the Associate membership category. According to his campaign material, Mashkoor has built what he describes as Pakistan’s sovereign AI platform, which he says is currently running inside seven banks, the Federal Board of Revenue, a national utility, and more than a thousand factories. He also says he has trained what he describes as the country’s first AI doctoral cohort, launched in October 2025 with doctoral researchers he says were trained through a partnership with Stanford School of Engineering. None of these figures or claims could be independently verified and are presented here as stated by the candidate.
His manifesto opens with a call to own what he describes as the AI post training industry, arguing that while billions of dollars flow into GPUs, the judgment that makes AI models actually usable in practice is currently being purchased from countries such as India, Kenya and the Philippines. He wants Pakistan to compete in this space using skilled minds rather than raw computing capacity. His second point addresses the gap between credentials and applied skills; he states that around 350,000 Pakistanis currently hold AI certificates while almost none have shipped a production system, though this figure is his own claim and could not be independently confirmed. He wants to focus on turning that paper qualification into engineers capable of competing for real jobs internationally.
Read: PASHA CEC Elections 2026: Every Candidate Contesting
The remaining two points of his platform address workforce inclusion and business models. Mashkoor argues that half of the country’s technology talent is currently forced to choose between relocating or leaving the field altogether, describing this as attrition rather than equality, and he wants to expand local hubs, real remote contracts, and capital specifically directed toward women building careers in technology. His final commitment centers on moving companies away from selling hours toward selling products, arguing that an hour sold generates no further value while a product continues to earn; he says he wants to help turn Pakistani service firms into product companies capable of entering the GCC market, citing his own company’s work delivering services for Saudi government ministries including defence and health as an example, though this claim is also presented as stated by the candidate rather than independently verified.
Mashkoor’s candidacy comes as PASHA members prepare to vote on September 17, 2026, for the ten open seats of the Central Executive Committee, with two additional reserved seats for women entrepreneurs to be filled the following day by the newly elected committee. Based on the Election Commission’s regional structure, voting is expected to be coordinated across Islamabad and Rawalpindi, Lahore, and Karachi, where PASHA maintains its secretariat and regional offices. Voting will take place through secret ballot between 9 am and 5 pm, with original CNIC or passport required for identity verification at polling stations. The complete final voters list for the 2026 elections is available on the PASHA final voter list, and more information about Mashkoor’s professional background can be found on his LinkedIn profile.
Computerworld is profiling every candidate contesting the 2026 PASHA CEC elections. View the manifestos and candidate profiles here on CWPK. Profiles are drawn from published campaign material by PASHA Election Commission. Public manifestos for all CEC contestants can be found here.
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