Pakistan Digital Authority (PDA) has held a series of stakeholder consultations with the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) as part of the ongoing development of the National Digital Masterplan (NDMP) and its sectoral plans. The sessions brought together the Advisor for Science and Technology and Information Technology (ST&IT), the Secretary of the Planning and Development Department at the Civil Secretariat, the Agriculture Department, the Department of Science and Technology and Information Technology, and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Technology Board (KPITB). PDA shared the update on its official LinkedIn page, describing the exercise as part of its work to advance federal and provincial collaboration on Pakistan’s digital transformation, with provincial departments contributing directly to the national framework as it takes shape.
Representing PDA, Aamer Rana, Member, Sophia Hasnain, Chief of Staff, Dr. Sahibzada Ali Mahmud, Chief Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) Officer, Fouad Bajwa, Principal Digital Systems and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Consultant, Aalishan Akhtar, Executive Director DPI, Moazzam Kamran, Executive Director of the Digital Innovation Lab, and Kashif Ahmad, Project Manager, engaged with their KP counterparts to advance what was described as a shared national agenda. The presence of officials from public infrastructure, innovation, and project management functions alongside the authority’s leadership reflects the range of topics under discussion, which span governance, services, infrastructure, and sector level planning. On the provincial side, departments responsible for planning, agriculture, and information technology took part in the discussions.
According to PDA, the consultations focused on building provincial ownership and participation in shaping the national digital transformation agenda, aligning provincial priorities with the NDMP, and identifying opportunities for coordinated action across digital governance, public service delivery, digital infrastructure, and sectoral transformation. Each of these areas touches the daily work of provincial departments, from the way citizens access government services to the connectivity and systems that support those services. By taking provincial priorities into account while the NDMP and its sectoral plans are still being developed, PDA aims to make sure that national targets reflect what departments in KP see as most important within their own areas of responsibility.
PDA said the engagements reflect its commitment to a collaborative, whole-of-government approach that builds on provincial experience, respects constitutional and institutional mandates, and translates national digital ambitions into actionable, context-specific priorities. The authority also expressed appreciation for the support of KPITB and the ST&IT Department, along with the constructive engagement and valuable insights offered by all participating provincial stakeholders. In its message, PDA noted that Pakistan’s digital transformation will move forward most effectively when national direction and provincial ownership advance together, a point that sits at the centre of the consultations as work on the NDMP continues and as more provincial input is brought into the national plan.
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