The Leveling of America Dost-mottar #: ``I hope you succeed in developing some successful projects in Pakistan.

Let`s see what happens. If all goes well, I should be moving out of North America, in six months or so.

``What you learnt about what Indians are doing with IT is not news to anyone who has been following the IT scene there.``

Yes, quite a bit is being attempted. A lot of e-seva and e-dairy and e-tender etc. From what I can tell, this is orders of magnitude more difficult than developing off-shore companies. The later being a pretty straight forward thing, provided people have enough college grads at their disposal, and have first-mover advantage..........

There are so many things that need to happen in IT for it to affect the common man. Barring a few things, like giving access to some govt. services, in a more efficient manner, I think it is still far far away. What is interesting is the difference in approach. Every off-shore person one talks to, mentions India`s skilled English speaking force. While every Indian I talked with, who was trying to use computers as a local tool, considered software and apps being in English as one of the biggest obstacles......

Pakistan`s main success story is its NADRA database. Apaprently, no one in the area (including India) has anything that comes close to it. The Indians were studying it to see if they could copy it. Even Malaysians are looking at adapting it. After the earthquake, NADRA printed out 100,000 pages of info on affectees for the govt. Pakistan is close to having the most sophisticatecd immigration system, and passport checking, through NADRA..........

The Leveling of America anil/dost-mittar: Yes, I am broadcasting, from various different points in Pakistan, nowdays. Did not get a chance to attend the TiE conference, unfortunately. No one told me about it. Pakistan has, unfortunately, not done much with TiE. As mentioned earlier, software in Pakistan is quite immature, despite the fact that the Prime Minister and various Ministers, make it a point to attend even the smallest IT functions. All the action is in telecom, and soon in IT-enabled services.........

I have, however, had a chance to meet with an interesting group: Some prominent Indian IT people, who are actually from India and have spent their whole careers in India. I had never met this group, before. Their take on IT is quite interesting. Very different from expat Indians.

This group talks about using IT to help the dairy farmer in some remote corner of India. Or to help malaria victims in some tribe of India, etc. Not a single one has talked about off-shoring contracts from USA, which is about 85% of the current India`s IT industry. Another thing they talk about is making everything available in local languages, and switching from English to Punjabi and Bengali etc., in IT. Exactly the opposite of the English speaking skills of Indians that expat Indians talk about.....

Apparently the consensus is that until a computer can be sold at less than Rs 10,000 and everything can be done in local languages (like in China), IT is not really going to help the common person much. And after listening to them, I would agree. Apparently, India now has computers available for less than Rs 10,000. However, like nearly all third world countries, is still a long distance away from making IT available in local languages.

I think the off-shoring part of IT is going to make the rich richer. However, the e-dairyfarming (apparently an area in which India leads the world) and porting everything - from the OS to the applications to the compilers to the browser etc. - into 15 or so local languages, is what will help the local person (I think, though not sure, it can be done in all languges except Tamil, for some grammatical reason that I could not understand).

As usual, I am highly impressed by their humbleness and humilty - a trait which is very common amongst all successful Indian IT people, I keep running into.

The Leveling of America SaimaShah #: ``There is no Azim Premji or anyone like that in BPO in Pakistan. Pakistan has a few IT companies that are growing very fast, like Si3, Techlogix, TRG and other IT consulting companies. These have been started in the last 5 years.``

I tend to disagree. There is no Premji in Pakistani software. But there are a couple coming up in other areas...........

I am in the middle of talking with all these people, at the moment. Pakistan, has nothing to offer in software. It`s software industry is almost non-existent. And, at the moment, at least, I, don`t see it going anywhere. There aren`t enough university grads beng produced in Pakistan. And Pakistan has been unable to come up with a correct business model for software development...............

However, there are two areas, in the technology space, where there is impressive growth. In one, Pakistan is booming beyond belief. In the other, Pakistan is about to boom.

The first is telecom. Pakistan is now a major cell phone market of the world. All international brands are trying to sell big time in Pakistan. There are 15 million cell phone connections in Pakistan, today. These have been growing at 100% a year. They are still targeted to grow at a phenomenal pace, for the coming years. According to Musharraf (don`t know if it is true), Pakistan is the second biggest market of Nokia........All of this, despite Pakistan`s image and law and order problems, etc.

The other area where Pakistan is going to grow is IT-enabled services; specifically call centers. This is due to the efforts of one man - Zia Chishti. He ranks, at least in my book, right up there with the Azim Premjis etc. He is going to be bigger than Azim Premji, when he reaches Premji`s age (when that happens, make sure you remember, you heard it here first, on Radio Romair)...............

Zia is one of the only persons in the tech space, internationally, to launch two very successful companies, before the age of 35. Both of which continue to operate independently. Amongst other things, he was voted one of the 40 most eligible bachelors in the USA, by People Magazine, alongwith the likes of Tiger Woods etc. (so any single Pakistani ladies on Chowk, may want to look him up)...........

TRG is a huge enterprise now. It is, infact, the largest off-shore call center in the world. And maybe the largest singel IT-enabled BPO in the world (not sure?). They just got an investment of $31 million from AIG. That is 3 times the amount of capital existing in the VC market of all of Pakistan. They have 5000 employees. And have made over 15 int`l acquistions. They even have a VC arm...........

There revenues are around $ US 200 million. Making them 1/5th the size of the Wipros in revenues and around 1/4th in manpower (albeit of a lower skill level). All this in a few years (four or so). By the time, this guy hits 50, he will be IT-enabled services king of the world (in a sense, he kind of already is)................

So, software has been a dud in Pakistan. But telecom is booming, beyond imagination. And IT-enabled services, is set to boom...............

The Leveling of America The more time I spend in the IT industry, the more I am begining to realize that IT can never be the great economic leveller that everyone is portrayng it to be. Infact, IT is actually an economic ``un-leveller.`` IT can, at best, be an information leveller and expeditor.

I recently finished meetings with some very prominent Indian IT people. Indian, as in people, who have spent their whole careers in the Indian IT industry and know what is happening. Not expats or NRIs.

They informed me that India`s IT industry is roughly $20 billion. Out of this, $17 billion are in exports. Only $3 billion are spent domestically. This means that less than $3/Indian is spent on IT, in India. In addition, only a quarter of 1% of the Indian worklforce is employed in IT or IT enabled services. This is equal to one person out of 400.

This quarter of a percent is, no doubt, going to get richer and richer. Let`s double it and say, half a percent someday. However, what about the remaining 199 citizens? Can they ever be mass employed in IT, in a third world country?

I cannot see how. The entry requirements for IT are so high that a normal person just cannot enter it. These requirements are going to continue to get higher and higher. At least a 16 year technical education is the minimum. How many people can get that kind of an education?

In addition, even now, nearly all the revenues, of the Indian IT industry, are coming from the USA. What will happen if the current debate in the USA, over jobs being exported overseas, turns into a reality? And strict restrictions are placed on this, in the Western world. Will the gigantic off-shore IT companies be able to survive?

IT is, infact, in control of the Western world. They can turn off the tap to off-shoring anytime. Wthin a society, IT is in control of the well-educated. Thus, until a massive economic revolution takes place in a society, outside of IT (manufacturing, agriculture, small buisnesses etc.) only a tiny minority, in any thrid world country, will be able to benefit from IT. IT can, itself, never create this economic revolution...........

This is not to say that $17 billion of exports is a bad thing. Any country would love to have that. But such exports will, on the whole, make the rich richer. At best, it can move some in the middle class into the upper-middle class. IT cannot make the poor man rich. It will, in fact, increase the gap between rich and poor.

The poor man can only move into the middle class, if he/she has access to value-added jobs and entrepreneurship opportunities, which require low levels of skills and education.............Exactly the opposite of IT...............

The Trial of a Nation kaalchakra #: ``Information about China as the source of a fool-proof blueprint for a nuclear weapon came from American records. It seems Americans obtained a copy of exactly the same Chinese blueprint that Pakistan had, and then confronted Pakistan with it at the highest levels.``

I am not too sure how much China has been involved. I don`t think China`s own technology is that advanced. Or at least wasn`t when Pakistan was developing nukes. The three countries with truly sophisticated nuclear weapons and launch capabilities are USA, Russia and Israel. Do read up on Israel`s capabilities if you get a chance. They are truly amazing. Albeit with a lot of help from the USA. But way ahead of Pakistan and India........

Kahuta is protected like a precious diamond. This I know of personally.......

Everything else is heresay. One would have had to have been involved in the real project, to know who did what. My acquitance is quite reliable however. He was involved in funding the front companies as a banker, covering the Middle East. I believe BCCI helped a lot also.

If you read the main article in Time Magazine, from a few years ago, with the picture of AQ Khan on the cover, you will notice a detailed mention of a young Sri Lankan Muslim in Dubai. He has been caught and was apparently AQ`s partner in business. This guy used to run a computer business, amongst other things.

I am quite sure Pakistan did not get the detailed advanced nuclear technology from China. China would never give it away like that. In addition, if Pakistan was getting it from China, then why set up all these front companies in Dubai and Europe and what not. There was a Pakistani caught in the USA, as well.

The acquisition of nukes for Pakistan is truly a fast-paced mystery novel. Pakistan got them, after there were huge restrictions on acquiring nukes. It is the only country that has been able to do so. India did most of its work, before then. And Israel had access to the USA. Pakistan had nothing. Yet it stayed one step ahead of the game. Keeping the whole world guessing.

I wouldn`t be surprised if it were European scientists that helped out. I think by 84, Pakistan had the bomb. AQ Khan was definitely involved. But he is a mettalurgist. There is no way he could have developed the bomb. That was done by a whole group of scientists, who deserve a lot of credit. The fact that they remained underground, and to this day, no one knows who they are, is an even bigger credit to them.......

AQ Khan got too much into the limelight. That is not how real heroes should behave. And he openly came on air to admit he did some dealings on his own. Which was a huge let-down for Pakistan. At the same time, Pakistan has broken no int`l law, neither has AQ Khan. He has broken Pakistani law...........

AQ Khan was a hero for the right reasons. And he is now a pardoned criminal for the right reasons also. But he has been turned into a far bigger hero than he deserves to be. He lives in sector E-7 in Islamabad. He has always had a lot of security around his house. Interestingly, almost right next to him, is another very senior nuclear scientist. We used to live in the area and knew this scientist. The most down to earth man you will ever see. Those are the true heroes............

The Trial of a Nation I had a chat with a very senior retired banker, regarding this. Apparently, some Pakistani banks were involved in these projects, as many of the parts were obtained through front companies, set up in places like Dubai..........He gave me some very interesting information. I know him quite well and thus have no reason to doubt him.

The way Pakistan obtained the nukes is stuff of legends. As is the way it has protected it. Kahuta is literally impregnable. Even if Pakistani aircraft get close, they will get shot down. The Pakistan Air Force is not allowed to fly even its own planes over various areas: Chashma, Wah, Kahuta etc.

I was a student in Sargodha, and one night we saw countless airplanes take off from the PAF base, there. It was as if the whole Air Force was airborne. The next day, the story was that Israel had planned an attack, which was detected by Pakistani Air Defence officers in Saudi Arabia, who had informed Pakistan. And, as per plan, the whole PAF went airborne in the middle of the night. Don`t know how credible that is. NHK would know better. He may have been one of the pilots airborne...........

Anyways, Pakistanis, according to this banker, did not get their technology from China. In fact, Pakistan is quite advanced, and China has been getting info from Pakistan, on occassion, on how to reverse engineer things. Pakistanis got their info from where:

From Germans!

From WW II type retired anti-Semitic German scientists, spread out all over the world. These guys are anti-Israel and wanted some country to have nuclear capability, in an anti-Jewish fashion. I found that quite interesting. He said, the front companies were set up in UAE. Pakistani banks would finance them and provide the money. And these Germans would then handle the rest, through their know-how and contacts...........

In that sense, AQ Khan is, no doubt, a hero. However, like many Pakistani heroes, he got carried away. I don`t think he went off on his own. I think the Pakistan govt. was working with Iran and North Korea. This is not against int`l law. USA works and trades nuclear know-how with Israel and Europe at much higher levels. It, in fact, deploys complete missile systems in Europe. This would be like Pakistan deploying missiles in Iran. I believe India exchanges with Israel also. And apparently, at one time with Iraq (?), as well. And will now be exchanging with the USA.

My guess is AQ Khan was probably officially involved in these govt. exchanges. However, somewhere along the lines, he started his own, ``small business,`` on this side. He eventually got caught. Pakistan`s govts` contacts with Iran and North Korea were also discovered. Pakistan had not broken any int`l law, but, ironically the countries that themselves indulge in nuclear exchange the most (the West) put a lot of pressure on Pakistan. Pakistan had to buckle. It blamed everything on AQ Khan. Made a deal with him that it would not prosecute his, ``small business`` if he shut it down and if he kept his mouth shut on Pakistan`s dealings, and took all the blame...........

The Trial of a Nation Godot #32: ``But those who developed it are hesitant to give it out freely for its dual use as weapon of mass destruction. ``

I hope you are not serious.

Nuclear technology and even weapons are, ``exchanged`` quite regularly amongst countries. The USA being on top of the list. Do read up on the amount of exchange of nuclear technology, between USA and Israel. It makes any exchange between Pakistan and Iran, look like child`s play. Not to mention the exchange of missile technology. Israel, today, has the third most sophisticated missile systems, behind USA and Russia. Far beyond anything Pakistan and India have........

NATO allies not only exchange nuclear technology, they exchange full nuclear weapons. The USA, ``exchanges`` nuclear weapons with its European allies. It deploys them in other countries. It is the equivalent of Pakistan deploying its nukes in Iran and Saudi Arabia and Sri Lanka! Imagine what would happen, if Pakistan ever signed a treaty and did that. Yet this is what the USA does. All its allies in Europe are under a US, ``nuclear umbrella.``

Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Greece, Italy, Turkey and the UK all have US air-launched nuclear bombs based on their territories.

In fact, nuclear technology (not to mention weapons) are the biggest case of apartheid in the world. There is a completely different set of rules for the rich and the poor. Iran, till today, has not broken any nuclear treaty it has signed. To the best of my knowledge, it has no charges against it. However, the big-5 nuclear countries, violate the NPT, openly, everyday. The NPT binds them to decrease and rid themselves of their nuclear arsenal, in a stage manner. Yet, they, specially the USA presently, are coming out with one new nuke design after another!

Iran`s nukes are obviously as a deterence to Israel`s nukes. Much like Pakistan`s nukes were a deterence to India`s. And India`s were a deterence to China`s. And China`s were a deterence to the USA`s. The problem starts at the top of the pyramid. Until the USA discards nukes, other countries will slowly, but surely, develop them.

And in my opinion, they have every right to do so. Until the whole world denounces nukes.....

Rest assured, Iraq would not have been attacked, if it actually, ``had`` WMDs. Much like North Korea was not attacked, even though iit was the country that, ``had`` nukes. Specifically, because it had nukes. Iran will not be invaded, if it eventually develops nukes. Much like Israel cannot be attacked. Nor can Pakistan. However, Iran may be invaded by the USA (or Israel), according to the two countries` own declarations; that is if it cannot develop nukes...........

Diasporic Indian Ahmadzai/faisaluno #: ``2) Prefer the UAE (or increasingly Qatar now) if you want to accumulate some wealth (only for certain professions) quickly and have good infrastructure.
3) Prefer Pakistan if you want to have career ultimately leading to respect in the society and to wealth.``

Thanks for the info.........

What would those, ``certain professions`` happen to be. I believe barring IT, and a few others, one has to have a local partner who owns 51% of one`s business, to incorporate.

Are there are any business based in Dubai, which operate primarily in Pakistan. I know of one called Cupola Group, which does much of its business in Pakistan, but is based in Dubai.........

Did Imran get the money? Imran Khan has two qualities that are severely lacking in affluent Pakistanis, including nearly everyone on Chowk: 1. conviction 2. walking the talk and the walk

He has the one quality that is severely lacking in Pakistani politicians 1. honesty

I am a huge admirer of anyone who has the above three qualities. Regardless of how religious or secular or competent or incompetent they maybe. Or whether their political views agree with mine or not. Political conviction, more than political success, is what is needed in Pakistan............

Diasporic Indian Can anyone provide a good comparison of life in North America and life in Dubai, from a South Asian perspective. Preferably someone who has lived in both places..........

If Robert Fisk were Rameez Farooq… This reply has nothing to do with this thread, but since this is the editor`s article, I would like to highlight my support for the following. I have always felt that sex and violence, both, sell. And that Chowk overdoes it on the violence side, and, ``underdoes`` it on the sex side. Hence I would like to recommend young Atif2 as a featured writer:

``Petition to make Atif a permanent feature writer on Chowk...

After more than a year of reading lewd articles ranging from secularism to `liberal democracy` (whatever the fuk that means), I am finally fed up with this monotonous boredom and intellectual whoredom on chowk and hereby present myself as the alternative voice.

My articles will basically revolve around sex, albeit less obscene and far classier than the ones currently written on politics and religion on front page. I will explore the real underpinnings of what makes humans tick in bed. Depending on popular demand, I will also address weekly questions posed by readers on issues and problems related to their sex lives. My articles will appeal to the newer generation of chowkies and will bring chowk in line with demands that 21st century places on this generation. To my credentials, I am author of the bestseller ``She comes first: A thinking man`s guide to pleasuring woman`` as well as a collection of my delicately written motivational poems ``Just Fuk It`` - published by Nike.

Unlike those writers who write on complex topics such as nuclear disarmament, secularizing Pakistan etc etc, I actually have some experience in what I talk about.

I hereby ask for your support... ``

Atif in Boston..........

Diasporic Indian Move to Brampton, Ontario. You will no longer feel like part of a diaspora.........

The world will reach its peak population in 2070(?). After which, the population will stabliize or even start declining. Other than in one major area - South Asia. In a 100 years, most of the world will be South Asian or Chinese. Major countries in Europe, Canada etc. already have negative growth rates for non-diaspora populations. Germans, Americans, and goras of various varities, are on their way to slow extinction...........

So, much like, someday all IT people will be working for IBM or Microsoft, similarly, someday everyone will have a desi DNA.............

Dispatches on War (Part VI) Dost-mittar #9: ``On the small screen, the supremacy of American mind is now spread ``Sitaron se aagay`` by Star Trek and its various offshoots.``

Star Trek is one of my favorite shows. However, there is something that has always bothered me about it: It shows the world, around 300 years from today. The earth is all one big united country. In fact, it has united with other planets to form a Federation, consisting of all kinds of strange looking species, which jointly serve on Starships.

Now, the HQ of this universe-wide federation is in San Francisco. Fine, its an American show for an American audience. So I`ll give them that one. The whole crew of all the Starships speaks English. Fine. American show and English is somewhat of the lingua franca, even today. Nearly all the Captains are American. OK. I`ll give them that one also, since they threw in one French guy - Jean Luque Picard.......

But here is the kicker: If you look at the crew, nearly everyone is either from the areas of USA or from another planet! There is, off course the odd Japanese guy - Sulu. Or the odd African - Uhura. Or the odd Korean - Kim. Or the odd Russian - Chekov. Or the odd Scotsman - Scotty. But everyone else is from the USA. White Americans, Black Americans, male Americans, female Americans. There is even a Native American - Chakotay.

Now, one could argue that its for the American audience, hence the crew must be from America (even if the earth is one big country in 300 years). OK. But why, then, are there so many crewmen from other planets! There are more people from the planet Klingon on the crew then there are people from all the countries in South Asia combined! Dr. Bashir being the only South Asian. There are more crewman from the planet Vulcan than there are from all of China! And there are more people from the planet Betazoid than from all of South America!

Based on this, one can conclude that in 300 years, the universe will consist of Americans and aliens from other worlds. The rest of the citizens of the world will have disappeared (or will not be considered worthy of being on a Starship).

P.S. There are even more robots and androids on the crew lists than South Asians!!

The American Nightmare: No Exit, No Entry Raw_Dust #240: ``Romair:
but you are a loyal subject of someone who enslaved your forefathers and here you are at it again - you willingly have chosen to be the subject of the same entity...

admit it man... :-) ``

Yes. You are correct. I`ll have to give you that one. I personally think Canadians should kick the queen out. Even the oath of citizenship is to the queen, for some reason. But as long as all Canadians are enslaved to her, its ok..........

Added to this, I still believe Pakistan should have allowed the goras to rule over it for 30 more years. We would have been like Hong Kong, by now............So being ruled by goras is not that bad. That is how God designed the world. Goras rule and the rest of us become the labor.........

In any case, in 25 years, South Asians and Chinese will have taken over Canada. Or at least taken over, all important places like Toronto and Vancouver. At which time the standard of living in Canada will automatically decrease. And in 50 years, Mexicans will have taken over USA, decreasing the standard of living there, as well.......

By that time, I will have moved to New Zealand............which is also, under the queen.........

Long live the Queen!!!

The American Nightmare: No Exit, No Entry Kulharee #239: ``Romair Ji, I know DullahBhatti, and Sir let me tell you that you are no DullahBhatti – however I think that you will make a fabulous Queen of Canada.``

Yes, that is true. Bhatti Saab is, indeed, in a class of his own.........Suppose I do become the queen of Canada, wouldn`t that still mean that you cannot become the President of the USA?

``Sir, please don’t try to put down Americans. Thanks.``

You may want to get out of the habit of considering any critique of the USA to be a, ``put down.`` Do keep in mind that the USA publishes an annual reports on human rights and God knows what else, about every country in the world. Don`t you think that makes it OK for others to critique the USA; especially since the USA is intruding in so many countries` business. Not the mention the fact that there are still Americans who think that other countries will miss US soldiers, when they vacate their lands!........

Being on page 17 of a newspaper is more a sign of the newspaper`s ignorance than anything else. As I said, lack of information and knowledge about others is a bad thing. Not something to be proud of.............In any case, ignorance is bliss is a philosophy that is popular..........

The American Nightmare: No Exit, No Entry Kulharee #237: ``I read somewhere that Canadians are more aware of the American politics than their own. I am totally amazed that you Canadians know so much about the US whereas a major event in your country``

I know about the USA because I lived there for a long time. Canadians know far more about the USA, then the USA knows about Canada. Canadians know far more about the UK then the UK knows about Canada. Knowing something is a good thing. Not knowing something is a bad thing; not something to be proud of............

``makes page A-17 of the NYTimes here``

This is a major problem in the USA, i.e. lack of information about other countries. It keeps people ignorant. Ignorance is a bad thing..........

``having no global position in terms of economic power, or just plain envy?``

Canada is a member of the G-7, so I would not call that, ``no global position.`` And has been rated the best place to live in the world by the UN, for seven straight years.......So I wouldn`t call it envy either..........

``Do you know that Queen of England is your head of State?``

Yes, this is true. It is done deliberately. She could be kicked out, as and when wanted. Being in the Commonwealth has some advantages. Do keep in mind that the Governor General of Canada (the practical head of state) is a Black 48 year old lady named Michaelle Jean. She is a French speaking immigrant, who fleed from Haiti, currently living in Quebec!

So who knows, one fine day, either me or DullahBhatti - two Punjabi speaking immigrants - may be the Governor General of Canada. What chances do you have of being the President of the USA? Do let me know......