Pakistan court releases Raymond Davis

ISLAMABAD: An Additional Sessions judge Wednesday set free CIA contractor Raymond Davis, who killed two Pakistanis on a busy road in Lahore, after payment of blood money (Diyat) in accordance with Sharia law of Pakistan, sources said.

Talking to Geo News, Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said the court released Raymond Davis after the family members of the murdered men appeared in the court and pardoned the US National after an agreement was reached between the two sides. “He has been released from jail and now it is up to him to leave the country whenever he wants,” the Minister added.

The families of the murdered men, Fahim and Faizan, accepted the blood money of 2.34 million dollars (equal to Rs200 million) while, according to sources, four US visas were also part of the deal.

The killings by Raymond Davis in Lahore in January strained relations between Pakistan and US, who repeatedly insisted Davis was an embassy employee and enjoyed diplomatic immunity, particularly after it emerged he was working for the CIA.

Only IG Police, US Consul General in Lahore Carmela Conroy and lawyers were present during the hearing in Central Jail, sources said.

The counsel of the bereaved families, Manzoor Butt alleged that the families of Faizan and Fahim were forcibly brought from their homes to the court.

Lawyers for the families said they had been held on gun-point for four hours at the jail court where Davis was being tried on Wednesday, but had not been allowed to witness proceedings. They were also warned against uttering a word before the media, sources said.

Blood money, or ‘Diyat’ is a provision under Islamic sharia law in which compensation can be paid to relatives of those killed to secure a pardon, and is commonly used to resolve such cases in Pakistan.

The Davis case had sparked protests in Pakistan, with religious groups angrily denouncing the American who claimed he acted in self-defence to fend off an armed robbery when he shot dead the two men.

US authorities insisted Davis was protected by full diplomatic immunity, but the Pakistan government refused to back that claim and a decision on his status was on Monday deferred by the Lahore high court for criminal judges to decide.

Revelations that Davis was a CIA contractor heaped pressure on Pakistan's embattled government and further ramped up burning public mistrust of Washington, damaging fragile relations between the two wary allies.

A third Pakistani was struck down and killed by a US diplomatic vehicle that came to Davis' assistance in the January incident. US officials denied Pakistan access to the vehicle, and the occupants are widely believed to have left the country. (Geo/AFP)

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PTCL Introduces Public Cash Payment Machines

In a bid to enhance customers’ bill payment experience, PTCL has introduced Public Cash/Card Payment machines (PCPM).

These machines are self payment collecting kiosks which accept cash from the customers against the services provided by PTCL and provide receipt/SMS confirmation to their selected mobile numbers against the cash input.

By using the machines, the customers will be able to pay their PTCL invoices by visiting PTCL business offices.

By using the machines, Customers can themselves pay their PTCL bills without involving any PTCL staff.

Key Highlights:

Customer can pay while shopping at Metro and Malls.
Payment of PSTN ,BB,EVO, IPTV
Recharge of WLL and other prepaid services
It updates the customer account immediately .
Advance and partial are accepted.
The machines will generate receipts for customer in confirmation for the payment.
SMS will be sent to the customer in confirmation for the payment .
Automatic restoration of suspended lines on payment.
Machines are customer oriented easy handling touch screen mode feature having the dialect both in Urdu and English.

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Is Telecom Sector Involved in Parchi System?

First of all, let me be clear that I am writing this after getting inspiration from Telenor’s Khamoshi ka Boycott campaign.

After reviewing their earlier advertisements and criticizing them hard (based on our own viewpoint), I must admit that their this particular TVC about parchi system is indeed something to look at.

Though, call it pessimism or maybe I am more realistic, I don’t find this campaign bringing a significant revolution in terms of changing the current parchi system in our culture, however, it indeed has triggered us to think the state of HR policies in various organizations.

And today, we will talk about Telecom sector!

I have spoken to more than a dozen telecom officials in last two days, and asked them about their HR policies, recruitment procedures and chances of being influenced by Parchi, references and the pressure from external sources in employing someone.

Public Relation departments of Mobilink, Telenor, Ufone, Warid and Zong were of the view that there is no ‘parchi system’, at all, in their respective companies, hence we can conclude from their conversations that Parchi System is something unknown to telecom sector.

Though, couple of of them, including Telenor PR Head, agreed to a point that they are at times asked and influenced by regulator, government officials, regarding jobs – but they never entertain such requests.

On other hands, when I spoke to other departments especially the HR officials in various organizations, they hinted us of parchi system, to some extent at least.

One of the official said:

Telecom companies are part of Pakistan ’s socio system. So we can’t separate this industry from the rest of the country. How can you think of a Telecom company not being influenced by regulator, government or those who have got higher stakes in management?

While I agree with this official, here is one more viewpoint from another unnamed official:

Parchi system was largely in-practice just few years back, when telecom sector was booming. I can give you names, examples, however, now – the situation is different. Every company is looking for best resource at best price so there are very little chances of hiring someone based on some external pressure.

After saying this, he agreed to following:

If someone has got a reference, and he is capable at the same time, then obviously the candidate has better chances to get the job.

From all this, I can safely say that evidences of parchi system are there in telecom sector too, maybe not as significant as in other industries/organizations.

Our readers, mostly being from telecom sector, we would like to request your input on this, to tell us “Have you seen anyone getting job in Telecom sector through Parchi System?”

Please share your personal stories, if any, in below comments or send us email here aamir [at] propakistani.com.

Based on readers’ input (in comments and emails), we will do a follow up story in coming days, with more facts.

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Ufone & JazzJazba Secured 3rd Position in Pakistan Web Awards

The first Ever Pakistan Web Awards were given away, recently. These awards were organized by “The Xeptionalz” with the support of IT Ministry, Government of Sindh, Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) & City District Government Karachi (CDGK).

There were more than 130 websites nominated in 35 categories. Each Category Winner was given “Silver Award”.

The Diamond Award for the best website in Pakistan was granted to SATMAP TRG for 1st Position. The site, www.satmaptrg.com, was nominated under category “IT/ITeS”.

The Platinum Award was given to www.tribune.com.pk for 2nd Position in the category “Press & Media”.

Ufone and JazzJazba websites were conferred Gold Awards having tied-up for third position in the ceremony of first Pakistan Web Awards 2010 held here in Karachi.

The two websites: www.ufone.com & www.jazzjazba.com nominated under category of “Cellular/Telecom Companies” were qualified jointly for 3rd Position or Gold Award.

Special Award was granted to Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) for extraordinary creation of www.pakistan.pk, the National Rabta Informational Portal of Pakistan.

The Jury Panel was consisted of Mr. Arshad Khalil, CEO KTF Education, Arena Multimedia, Mr. Talib Syed Karim, Rector and Executive Director of Management Excellence Center, Institute of Business Management, Mr. Sohail Aziz, Council Member at Marketing Association of Pakistan and Representative of Messe Berlin in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, Barrister Zahid Jamil, IT Law Expert, National Response Centre for Cyber Crimes, Pakistan and Mr. Atiq Ur Rahman, Head of Marketing, RAKCODS & Business Development Advisor at Riphah International University, UAE.

Sindh IT Minister Raza Haroon as chief guest of the event lauded the creative, informative and facilitation features of the websites.

He said the Web Awards may be made an annual happening in order to keep our websites ready to compete globally by this healthy competition.

The revamped look of Sindh Government Web Portal, http://www.sindh.gov.pk/, and Sindh IT Department’s websites,http://www.sindh.gov.pk/dpt/IT/index.htm, were also demonstrated at The Web Awards ceremony.

Following is the complete list of award winners:

Category	Winner
Advertising Agencies	www.magnuscommunications.net
Agriculture	www.imtiaz.biz
Automotive	www.pakwheels.com
Banks	www.kasb.com
Cargo Services	www.unitedamericanline.com
Cellular/Telecom Companies	www.jazzjazba.com
Cellular/Telecom Companies	www.ufone.com
Corporate	www.engro.com
E-Commerce & Online Shopping	www.beliscity.com
Education	www.ilmkidunya.com
Employment Web Portals	www.rozee.pk
Engineering	www.aeib.ae
Event Managers/Organizers	www.cherryontop.ae
Exhibitions & Conferences	www.itcnasia.com
Foreign Missions & Trade Offices	UKinPakistan.fco.gov.uk
Government Organizations	www.pta.gov.pk
Health	www.pakdonor.com
Hotels	www.avari.com/property/avari-towers
Industries & Production	www.shanplastic.com
Institutions	www.hup.edu.pk
Internet Service Providers	www.dsl.net.pk
Investment	www.vantage.ae
Management Consultants	www.trgms.com
NGO’s	www.lrbt.org.pk
Other IT/ITeS	www.satmaptrg.com
Personal	www.aafiamovement.com
Plastic, Packaging & Printing	www.cranberrymktg.com
Press & Media	www.tribune.com.pk
Real Estate & Developers	www.maymar.com.pk
Social Media	www.pakdesk.com
Software Development Companies	www.trgworld.com/trgtech
Web Designing & Hosting	www.a2zcreatorz.com

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Telenor Pakistan Turns 6

Telenor Pakistan today celebrated its 6th anniversary by reiterating its commitment to bringing the benefits of telecommunications to people’s everyday lives, said a statement.

Since its launch, the company has shown consistent high growth by performing above industry average every year. According to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority’s latest annual report, Telenor Pakistan showed the highest growth rate of 14% in 2009-10.

Speaking on the occasion, CEO Telenor Pakistan Christian Albech said:

On its sixth anniversary, Telenor Pakistan has already crossed the 25 million subscriber mark. It gives me great satisfaction to tell you that of the total number of subscribers in the country today, every fourth is a Telenor customer.

With the belief in building around people, we have established an open culture that continues to be one of our biggest strengths. By introducing easypaisa, we have brought the bank to the unbanked population of the country and are continuing to spearhead growth through our Karo Mumkin philosophy.

Easypaisa has been the recipient of ‘Best Mobile Money Transfer Entrant of the Year Award’ at the world’s first Mobile Money Awards and has also received a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Mobile Money for the Unbanked Fund.

Among the numerous awards it has won, Telenor Pakistan has also received the Best Place to Work, Most Preferred Employer for HR Practices, Highest FDI Investor Award, and Superbrand of the Telecom Industry Award.

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Is Telecom Sector Involved in Parchi System?

First of all, let me be clear that I am writing this after getting inspiration from Telenor’s Khamoshi ka Boycott campaign.

After reviewing their earlier advertisements and criticizing them hard (based on our own viewpoint), I must admit that their this particular TVC about parchi system is indeed something to look at.

Though, call it pessimism or maybe I am more realistic, I don’t find this campaign bringing a significant revolution in terms of changing the current parchi system in our culture, however, it indeed has triggered us to think the state of HR policies in various organizations.

And today, we will talk about Telecom sector!

I have spoken to more than a dozen telecom officials in last two days, and asked them about their HR policies, recruitment procedures and chances of being influenced by Parchi, references and the pressure from external sources in employing someone.

Public Relation departments of Mobilink, Telenor, Ufone, Warid and Zong were of the view that there is no ‘parchi system’, at all, in their respective companies, hence we can conclude from their conversations that Parchi System is something unknown to telecom sector.

Though, couple of of them, including Telenor PR Head, agreed to a point that they are at times asked and influenced by regulator, government officials, regarding jobs – but they never entertain such requests.

On other hands, when I spoke to other departments especially the HR officials in various organizations, they hinted us of parchi system, to some extent at least.

One of the official said:

Telecom companies are part of Pakistan ’s socio system. So we can’t separate this industry from the rest of the country. How can you think of a Telecom company not being influenced by regulator, government or those who have got higher stakes in management?

While I agree with this official, here is one more viewpoint from another unnamed official:

Parchi system was largely in-practice just few years back, when telecom sector was booming. I can give you names, examples, however, now – the situation is different. Every company is looking for best resource at best price so there are very little chances of hiring someone based on some external pressure.

After saying this, he agreed to following:

If someone has got a reference, and he is capable at the same time, then obviously the candidate has better chances to get the job.

From all this, I can safely say that evidences of parchi system are there in telecom sector too, maybe not as significant as in other industries/organizations.

Our readers, mostly being from telecom sector, we would like to request your input on this, to tell us “Have you seen anyone getting job in Telecom sector through Parchi System?”

Please share your personal stories, if any, in below comments or send us email here

Based on readers’ input (in comments and emails), we will do a follow up story in coming days, with more facts.

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Bridging Digital Divide in Pakistan

Digital divide is a term used to define the gap between people with effective access to digital world and those who have no or limited access to modern technology in their daily lives.

Last one decade is widely considered as a decade of revolution as far as Pakistan Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) industry is concerned. Mobile Phones and Broadband Internet have replaced land lines and Internet Cards respectively. But has it really reached through out the country or merely some big cities making them envied for the larger chunk of our population living in villages and small cities. We will have a look on this in following:

While in Pakistan, during the past decade the usage of Mobile phones and Internet has tremendously increased but our rural areas are still greatly devoid of this phenomenon. Though Mobile Phones have reached majority of the population but the Internet phenomenon haven’t reached as compared to Mobile phones.

While mobile phones are being used only as a mean of communication, Internet can be utilized to change the social conditions of any population.

Though Mian Shehbaz Sharif’s Punjab Government is providing facility of computer labs in Government schools through out the Punjab but there are no teachers to make these labs function and what function can they do when there is no electricity in the country.

In this regard efforts of Universal Service Fund (USF) founded by Government of Pakistan in 2006 are also recommendable. USF promotes the development of Telecommunication services in under-served areas through out the country.

The key objectives of USF are:

To bring the focus of telecom operators toward rural population and increase the level of telecom penetration significantly in rural areas through effective and fair utilization of the funds.
To improve the Broadband penetration in the country.
To bring significant advances towards enhancement of e-services, both in rural as well as urban areas of the country.
Since USF’s formation in 2006, it is working on Rural Telecom Projects in un-served areas, for which contracts have been signed with major Telecom service providers in the country for providing telecom services.

USF is also contributing to other fields. The special project ‘ICT for persons with disabilities’ involves providing ICT related equipment for special person’s institutions.

Here is what Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) a non-profit group based in Islamabad suggests about how to measure and bridge the digital divide:

The importance of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to economic development has been recognized widely during the last decade. The development promises made by the significant growth of ICTs are challenged by the so-called digital divide. The ‘digital divide’ refers to the drastic differences in levels of ICT access between different population groups.

Pakistan also faces a Gender Digital divide where girls don’t even know how to operate a mobile phone and a computer. The steps taken to bridge the digital divide in the country includes an accord with Microsoft in January 2010 called “Microsoft Computer literacy program”


A similar accord was signed by Punjab government with Microsoft in Jan 10 under which Microsoft will extend its support for the development of local IT industry. The company will also setup an innovation centre at software Technology Park.


Steps to Bridge Digital Divide in Pakistan


Here are some of the steps that need to be taken immediately by the Government to bridge the Digital divide in the country:

A federal level survey of every district and every village of the country to access the level of the predicament.
Provide sufficient funding and employ private-public partnership to reach to the masses.
Provide full support and necessary tools to equip the low economic background people.
Make a regulatory body independent of political influence.
Provide public with clear goals and direction for the project.
These are only the few basic steps to bridge digital divide in Pakistan for the smooth flow of knowledge to every corner of the country and uplift the standards of the poor classes of our country and bring them into the National fabric for better functioning of our economy and improve our image as a friendly Nation in the world community.

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