The Ongoing IT Revolution and Security Implications for Pakistan

gymno #17

You are right in the sense that the current thrill and hype of an `India` brand name is not sufficient to make India a real IT power let alone knowledge power. Right now, those looking for a large % growth on investments feel they have found IT gold mines which have Indians, too working in them. The SouthEast Asia/Russian boom and accompanying hype bore some resemblance. Its up to India and Pakistan to keep their heads and capitalise(no pun intended) the most possible on real and incidental longterm benefits.

``Institutions banned``
Just an anecdote. I remember as an undergrad in a provincial college, we couldnot import just one of a fast ADC for a term project. Basically because of the MTCR/NPT-related international politics, N. Zealand can buy F-16s, but a state college in India cannot have even a single chip.

``IITs reduced to turning out drones``
Another anecdote. Back in the late 80s and early 90s at least the IITs in N. India(and medical colleges in S. India, too) turned out IAS/IPS/IES aspirant drones :-).

``failings``
If you can manage at least 2 trips to India in one year, I wish I were as successful.

``no intention of disclosing my persona to unknowns and shall not respond``
Hmm, remember it works both ways?

Sadhana

http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0,1151,17981,00.html

Bullish on India

Re: Urstruly # 57

I will believe it when it happens!

Pakistanis are really excellent at proclaiming but pathetic at performing and implementing their aim into reality!

As long as Pakistanis are incharge of Pakistan, all bets are off!

Ciao!

RE: Ferozk #68

I will keep you posted. It is just a matter of two months-as long as we the Pakistanis are incharge of Pakistan.

Re: Urstruly # 69

Please do!

Still, what happens after CE/COAS PM leaves...will this policy survive him or the next government will reverse it?

I have feeling that this policy will be just another passing slogan and in three years time everything will be back to normal in Pakistan! Pakistan needs action (hated by our bureaucrats) and not more policies. I applaud the intentions, but will die just like hundreds of policies before it; unwept, uncared and forgotten!

Anyway, the good thing is that the next two months will offer something to hope for and look forward to in the land that hope forget.

Best wishes!

RE: FerozK #70

Only time will tell what future holds for us. I hope for the best with all my faith, you keep on hoping for the worst.

adaab.

Dear Sac:

Besides being in IT, hearing this word again and again sounds - killing :-) I am reading your article with great interest. I liked the discussion style. I said, `reading`-- yes, I am still reading it. There are quite a few good points, whereas there are quite a few redundant ones. The redundant ones became pertinent, once you stated - the premise.

I strongly feel that you should also get some perspectives from the resident Pakistanis who are in IT. In fact, there should be a sequel to this article with the views from IT Professionals in Pakistan. I would like to refer the following article that was written by a friend from UET, Lahore. He went back after getting his MS from US. This article was also used in assessing the situation of ``IT Industry in Pakistan`` at the May, APSENA IT Conference - Washington DC. You can read the article at the following link.

http://www.iopwe.org/newsletter.html

PS: My detailed critique on your article will follow later.

Regards

ZJ

sac #63: ``PTCL is not going to be privatized anytime soon. These things usually happen when everybody else is doing it and there is only a small window of opportunity. We had that 2-3 years back when PTCL was valued at around $11 billion dollars. I doubt if we`ll even get a billion for it now. That is why the government has shelved all plans for it privatization.``

I think PTCL will be privatized soon. As will a lot of other publicly held companies. If it is worth 1 billion now, it will be worth 1/2 a billion in another few years. So better now, than later. In any case, by 2003 PTCL has to be privatized for Pakistan to operate in the international telecommunications area. Pakistan will have to privatize it, whether it wants to or not.

``I also disagree with the view expressed by some Pakistanis(and some Indians) that Pakistan needs to implement its IT plans without regard to India. Didn`t the Soviet Union have a credible nuclear deterrent? Look at them now.``

Comparing the Soviet Union/US cold war to the Pakistan/India cold war is inaccurate. First of all, the reason the USSR split up was because every policy it came up with was in reaction to USA policies. That is exactly what killed USSR. And that is exactly what Pakistan needs to avoid. Had the USSR not done that, and formed their domestic policy and foreign policy, independent of the US, there is a good chance it would still be around. When a country implements reactive policies instead of proactive policies, it ends up playing to the other country`s strength, and in many cases, its own weaknesses. That is a big mistake. Maybe it makes sense for Pakistan to give its textile industry more importance than IT. Or maybe it makes sense to give IT more importance than textile. Whatever the correct answer is, it should be based on what is in the long term interests of Pakistan, and not in reaction to what India does.

Secondly, the USSR was in a big time arms race with USA. They were both trying to dominate parts of the globe. The USSR had a comparable geographic and human resource size to the US. The US had a much bigger and robust economy than the USSR. Eventually, the USSR lost the battle because it could not economically sustain the arms race with the USA. Had it not reacted to everything the US did, the USSR would have been much better off.

Pakistan/India situation is different from the above situation in many regards. There is absolutely no comparison between the two countries in terms of geographic and human resources size. Pakistan is tiny compared to India. The other difference is that Pakistan has no desire of being an Asian regional power. It is not big enough to be one. The third difference is that India on a per capital basis is not wealthier than Pakistan; unlike the USA/USSR economic comparison.

Because of the above, all Pakistan needs to do is to establish enough of a deterrent to be able to defend itself against India. Once that is established, then Pakistan should completely detach itself from India, i.e. it should base its policies on what is in its interest, and not in reaction to what India does. You need to keep in mind that uptil 1990, economically Pakistan was the most progressive and successful country in South Asia. India was a much bigger economic basketcase than Pakistan, with extremely outdated economic policies. So following India is not necessary always a good idea. It is only now that Pakistan is in an economic trough and India is opening up, that the average Indian has reached the same standard of living as the average Pakistani. Which on the whole means that due to its gigantic size, India is much more powerful than Pakistan, and will remain so. Look at the size of the two countries on the map; there is a huge difference. So, there is no point in getting in a contest.

Based on the above, India and Pakistan are two different countries with different economic and foreign policy motivations. Because of this, Pakistan cannot be reactionary. It now has, for the first time in its history, a strong deterrent against Indian military domination, i.e. nuclear weapons. It is impossible for any country to be military hegemonistic towards a nuclear armed country. That is why India did not follow its standard policy of invading Punjab and Sind in reaction to Kargil.

So the military threat from India has finally been neutralized, regardless of what goes on in Kashmir. Ironically, Pakistan`s economy is now at its weakest. So one problem has been solved, but another has emerged. Assuming that Pakistan does not get into the arms race trap that India has set up in South Asia, the economic battle becomes independent of India. Even if India becomes the USA, it cannot militarily harm Pakistan. However, if Pakistan`s economy keeps going down, it will implode, regardless of how successful or unsuccessful India is. Whether India produces one computer scientist or one billion computer scientist is immaterial. Historically, India has never been able to break, harm, or destory Pakistan, despite many attempts. Pakistan has only suffered when its domestic leadership has let it down.

Pakistan should detach itself from India, in all aspects except culture and self-defence. I think Pakistan is in a secure position on those two issues. India has far more problems in Kashmir than Pakistan. Even if the status quo is maintained in Kashmir, Pakistan is alright. If India wants to trade with Pakistan, it should be welcomed. However, a pre-requisite should be that India has to stop trying to isolate Pakistan in international economic arenas like SAARC, Commonwealth, relations with USA etc. Apart from that, Pakistan needs to just figure out what suits it economically, politically etc. irrespective of what India does.

Mr Ras Siddiqui

You are another person I will like to commend for doing practical stuff for Pakistan ... More power to you!

-Pakistan Zindabad

-Quaid e Azam Zindabad

-Ataturk Zindabad

-Jiye Bhutto

-Imran Khan for PM

Yasser Hamdani

The author is right that indian dominance of IT is bad for Pakistan.

Let me give my reasons and I am sure lot of indians feel the same way.

I have been working in IT field for the last 10 yrs after finishing

my MS degree in CS from a reputed US university. I have seen a lot of

change in the industry. While we had to prove ourselves in the early

years to stay in a job, we have to disprove ourselves to be fired from

a job nowadays. US Pakistanis could have been better off riding on this

pro-indian atmosphere in IT field except kargil changed a lot of things.

I never thought about pakistan or islam or any religion. I was busy studying

science, math and computing. I was more interested in turing machines

than in God. Then kargil happened and I started reading about pakis, hinduism

and islam etc. Suddenly I got transformed into a nationalist. I used to argue

that borders are man made and we should have just one country in the world.

Now i realize that we have no choice but to maintain strict borders to

preserve our way of life. I am grateful for kargil because it put every indian

on alert from intellectuals to the soldiers, from politicians to the policemen.

Now that i have given enough background, let me come to the point of what has

changed for pakistani in US. I hired lot of people in my career and I still

do. Most of the good IT jobs will involve atleast one interview by a indian.

Nowadays if i see a resume with even a mention of pakistan involved i just throw

it in garbage and moveon. I rejected a lot of people like that solely because

they are pakistani. And I am sure this is happening not only in IT but

in academics, medicine etc. I dont feel bad because ultimately you have to

work with them and i would rather not have indians and pakis together.

It is not very productive to have these groups together. It is either them

or us. It does not matter how brilliant they are if you cant work with them.

And honestly i enjoyed working with pakis before kargil. And i used to

laugh at some of them who used to be very religious and give a % of their

income to mosques or whatever. I thought it was their personal beliefs. Now

the same behavior would irritate me. Now i wonder if that money is being used to

kill some indians and ultimately will end up destroying india as we know it.

That thought keeps haunting me and now I even avoid paki groceries, paki

gas stations and paki restaurants which were my favorites before kargil.

Dont even ask me about paki physicians, i would rather be sick:)!

So basically there is a conscious or subconscious boycott of everything

paki by most indians. And this can only be bad for the hopeful bright

pakis trying to enter IT world. They can not avoid working with Indians

wherever they go and there they wont find any help. Indians on the otherhand

are practically spoon-fed by other indians in the beginning. So the difference

between them would only widen. And it is not even morally repugnant. I just

find i work better with other indians than pakis and thats what matters and

I am even helping my country doing that is a bonus.

So far I just talked about hirings in IT field.

But IT gives the people lot of knowledge about a business and eventually make them powerful in the company. IT is the only profession where they bend over their backs to teach you how their business works internally and eventually IT guys become very powerful if they are half smart.Then you can see how the same boycott would translate to other jobs. So be damn sure that indian domination

of IT field is not good for pakis! I am extrapolating my feelings to a lot

of indians because i am not even religious. So it is not even about islam

and hinduism. It is just about survival. I am sure religious people would find

many more reasons to not cooperate with pakis. It is a tough world to be

a paki, i just wish they stop passing off as indians.

why is it that everyone only talks about iit`s. there are other institutes in india which are as good as the iit`s if not better. some names that come to my mind are BITS pilani, REC trichi, KREC, Manipal institute of tech, univ of rourkee, IT BHU, VJTI bombay, UDCT bombay, college of engineering poona, indian school of mines dhanbad, etc etc etc.

just because the success of the iit`ans has been publisied so much doesn`t mean that the other colleges donot churn out quality students. some of the colleges mentioned above are some of the top engineering colleges in india and the alumni of those colleges are doing very well for themselves.

indians are doing well not only in IT, but they r doing well in many other fields worldwide. example...L.N. Mittal, the Ispat group, one of the largest steel producers in the world, Raj Bagri, the president of the LME, N. Shyamlalan, the highest paid script writer in hollywood, jhumpa lahari, ismail merchant, ronu dutta, ...etc etc. these are just a couple of examples of the kind of success that indians have tasted abroad, apart from IT.

like the other fields where indians have been successful, IT is just another field where indians have tasted success. this is what makes me a proud indian, because we people can adapt in any culture and do what it takes to be successful.

LONG LIVE INDIA....AND SUCCESS TO INDIANS.

phew!!!!!!!!don`t we have everybody worked up ?????But i guess this India Pakistan thing never fails .Why does everything have to be us versus them ?If they are better at it then why consider that to be a threat ?Hats off to indians for doing such a great job and actualluy a lot of inexpensive help can be taken from them if the affairs are handled in the right manner . Hence the suggestion that the government should get out of the way doesn`t seem very sensible .India might be becoming more powerful by the day but it is still a very poor country and if they can manage to do so well then that means that there is still hope for us .

Muhajir #65 While it is true that record numbers of Indians and Pakistanis are headed to other lands, this is not necessarily a reflection of deteriorating opportunities in the homelands. I remember a UN study that showed how emigration (i.e. people leaving a country) tends to be low in underdeveloped countries to start with, and to increase once development starts and the concept of improving one`s lot seeps into the peoples` minds. Then there is a snowball affect. After some time it slows down and even reverses a bit(see e.g. the story of the Irish Americans, Korean Americans, and even Chinese Americans).

Urstruly #71 We need more Pakistanis like you.

vsn #77:

Frankly, my dear, I don`t believe you.

And, just hedging my bets, if you are for real than at long last jay would not be so lonely!

---t

THE MYTH OF PAKISTANI ECONOMY in SHAMBLES

I do not believe that the economy of Pakistan is in shambles. This myth is being created and popularized by establishment and regimes.

In the past, until the end of Afghan War, money was pouring in as financial aid in the country. This aid was generously divided among the Chacha Ji and Mama Ji of our country- it never reached common people. Now that this cash flow has stopped, the same chachay and mamay are sharpening their fangs to dig deep into our throats. They have to satisfy their hunger and thirst somehow. That is the reason people have started feeling the effects of ``bad economy``, first time in 50 years. It is the government who has to cut its flab and control ``haram khori``. It has to curb the ``Haram Khor`` elements among its ranks and control the ``Haram Khori`` of bureaucracy.


They are imposing unjust taxes on a target segment of the society, i.e. businessman. What are they (government) offering in return- better schooling, healthcare? Where is the new Social Contract here? Imposing taxes on a target segment of the society is unjust, un-Islamic, un-democratic, and un-constitutional (whatever the form it is in). What about Agricultural Tax?

It is my appeal to every Pakistani on Chowk, not to buy this crap about economy, from government and journalists on its payroll. Haram Khori is the keyword here. Pakistani economy is robust enough to withstand even complete isolation but it might not survive the parasites.