Firewall to cost Pakistani economy 300 million dollars

[onlinpunit]

KARACHI (Reuters) - Pakistan's economy could lose up to $300 million due to internet disruptions caused by imposition of a national firewall, the Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA) said in a press release on Thursday.

Islamabad is implementing an internet firewall to monitor and regulate content and social media platforms, according local media reports. The government denies the use of the firewall for censorship.

Ali Ihsan, senior vice chairman of P@SHA, said the imposition of the firewall has already caused prolonged internet disconnections and erratic VPN performance, threatening a "complete meltdown of business operations".

"These disruptions are not mere inconveniences; but, a direct, tangible and aggressive assault on the industry's viability – inflicting an estimated and devastating financial losses estimated to reach $300 million, which can further increase exponentially," he said in the statement.

Pakistan's telecommunication authority and Pakistan's Minister of State for Information Technology Shaza Fatima Khawaja did not immediately respond.

Earlier this month, Khawaja told local media that the government did not plan to use firewalls as a form of censorship.

Pakistan has already blocked access to social media platform X since the February elections in which jailed former prime minister Imran Khan won the most seats despite a crackdown and ban on his party.

The government has said the blocking was to stop anti state activities and a failure by X to adhere to local Pakistani laws. Rights activists say the blocking of X is designed to stifle critical voices and democratic accountability in the country.

In its statement, P@SHA said that the government's lack of transparency around the firewall had "ignited a firestorm of distrust" among internet users and Pakistan's global IT clients who fear their proprietary data and privacy will be compromised.

P@SHA demanded an "immediate and unconditional halt to this digital siege" and called on the government to engage with the industry to develop a cybersecurity framework.

Pakistan recorded $298 million in IT exports in June, up 33% from the year before. During the fiscal year that ended in June, IT exports were worth $3.2 billion, up 24% from $2.5 billion in the fiscal year 2023.

(Reporting by Ariba Shahid in Karachi; Editing by Ros Russell)

View attachment 59873


Make that 300 million a year at the rate these lot are going. What a shambles the nation has become under these fools.

Worth the penny !~

 

[Ali_Baba]

IT business migration to Dubai

Pakistanis, having systematically moved their capital overseas and invested $11 billion in properties in Dubai,...

www.brecorder.com

>> Pakistani will outsource everything to Dubai because it refuses to get the fundamentals right in Pakistan.

 

[PakFactor]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1824745294396854290

https://twitter.com/x/status/1824673927425056929

Alhamdulillah. The Patwari's said they are working on and will soon have three to four technology parks, and our economy will boom.

They have ignored all the advice from top economists and overseas Pakistanis. In a way, it's a bit of enjoyment seeing Pakistan implode a real-life example of what happens when you don't listen to intelligent people and have a banker and dumb accountant run the show. This will be a case study to be read in business schools, as Nawaz is used in the Canada Biomedical Communication Course as an example of committing corruption.

An example of ignoring the UK consultant you hired and then assigning Dar:

PM assigns economic plan to Dar | The Express Tribune

PM assigns economic plan to Dar

tribune.com.pk

@Waz you can't make this up, brother. Remember, the word home-grown. A foreign economist working with Aurangzeb wasn't homegrown enough; they needed Dar to develop a homegrown plan.

Unimpressed with the work of UK economist Stefan Dercon, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has delegated the responsibility of developing the "home-grown economic development plan" to Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar. [As if Dar did wonders before with his Inshallah economy.]

Stefan Dercon had prepared the draft of Pakistan's "home-grown" growth agenda under the supervision of Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, who chaired the initial committee on the economic plan.


It's high time Finance Minister Aurangzeb salvaged his dignity and stepped away from this mess. He needs to get out with a Dubai visa.

@Forsvaret @Fatman17

 

[PakFactor]

IT business migration to Dubai

Pakistanis, having systematically moved their capital overseas and invested $11 billion in properties in Dubai,...

www.brecorder.com

>> Pakistani will outsource everything to Dubai because it refuses to get the fundamentals right in Pakistan.

The Dubai Chamber of Commerce has registered over 4,000+ Pakistani businesses.

Honestly, soon, this government will need to start importing from India and open its economy to survive as the current trend can't be sustained; and most of all, tone down its rhetoric on Kashmir and let it go as it's a dead issue if Pakistan wants to survive in the neighborhood.

 

[Waz]

Alhamdulillah. The Patwari's said they are working on and will soon have three to four technology parks, and our economy will boom.

They have ignored all the advice from top economists and overseas Pakistanis. In a way, it's a bit of enjoyment seeing Pakistan implode a real-life example of what happens when you don't listen to intelligent people and have a banker and dumb accountant run the show. This will be a case study to be read in business schools, as Nawaz is used in the Canada Biomedical Communication Course as an example of committing corruption.

An example of ignoring the UK consultant you hired and then assigning Dar:

PM assigns economic plan to Dar | The Express Tribune

PM assigns economic plan to Dar

tribune.com.pk

@Waz you can't make this up, brother. Remember, the word home-grown. A foreign economist working with Aurangzeb wasn't homegrown enough; they needed Dar to develop a homegrown plan.

Unimpressed with the work of UK economist Stefan Dercon, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has delegated the responsibility of developing the "home-grown economic development plan" to Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar. [As if Dar did wonders before with his Inshallah economy.]

Stefan Dercon had prepared the draft of Pakistan's "home-grown" growth agenda under the supervision of Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, who chaired the initial committee on the economic plan.


It's high time Finance Minister Aurangzeb salvaged his dignity and stepped away from this mess. He needs to get out with a Dubai visa.

@Forsvaret @Fatman17

What they mean by 'boom' is this;

 

[PakFactor]

What they mean by 'boom' is this;


View attachment 59990

Exactly that. Haha

I can't believe a nation of 250 million has sunk this low. One would expect this in an apologetic science-fiction film involving a nuclear device.

 

[gangsta_rap]

Notice how the Americans and Western countries have been silent all along the way. Not only is the genocide Joe regime involved in the genocide of Palestinians. These heinous Democrats are also involved in supporting the Pakistani generals and the removal of Imran Khan. The Democrats have lived up to their reputation. It is quite obvious why. These are the same Western countries that used to fabricate lies against PTI and Imran Khan. Remember the lies regarding Pakistani people suffering due to PTI’s mishandling of the economy? I guess the economy is tanking today LOL Not a single word on the firewall, suppression of free speech, the economy being close to default etc. Hypocrisy at its finest.

At least the Republicans know when they are in the wrong.

There is this intense sense of self righteousness among Democrats and Neoliberals as a whole. According to their world view - they can do no wrong. Any action from their part is 'good' by default.

 

[SaadH]

Jamedaronomics, burying Pakistanis and their erstwhile ancestor under British raaj into eternal and ever stifling poverty.

 

[PakFactor]

@Waz

That Chinese saying, “An evil man will burn his own nation to the ground to rule over the ashes,” can be perfectly applied to the current setup.

 

[Goenitz]

@Waz @Mirzali Khan @Musings

A good program to understand our region. Not according to the topic but legit listen-worthy.

 

[AJKashmir1]

Never seen something so terribly managed at a grand scale like Pakistan is.

It should have millions of people worried in Pakistan but they are dead inside and don't care. It's as if Pakistanis don't really want to live.

 

[Dalit]

Never seen something so terribly managed at a grand scale like Pakistan is.

It should have millions of people worried in Pakistan but they are dead inside and don't care. It's as if Pakistanis don't really want to live.

Pakistanis want to live. They want to live very lavishly.

What people should understand by now is that Pakistanis are extremely selfish. They only care about their own little interests. From top to bottom. You don't get to this situation by the policies of one individual. This is a collective effort.

 

[PakFactor]

@Forsvaret I just found out this dumb ass dog below is the niece of Defense Minister Khawaja Asif. It just proves my point in the previous forum that certain traits genetically run in the bloodline.

Meanwhile, Indian IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has an MBA with a gold medal in electronic engineering, an M. Tech. from IIT Kanpur, an Indian Administrative Service, and an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania.

 

[sutton9999]

@Waz

That Chinese saying, “An evil man will burn his own nation to the ground to rule over the ashes,” can be perfectly applied to the current setup.

Rating: Misattributed

Rating Explanation: Research by TruthOrFiction.com, as well as an in-depth look into the writings of Sun Tzu and ‘The Art of War’, confirm that the quote ‘An evil man will burn his own nation to the ground to rule over the ashes.’ is not present in any of Sun Tzu’s known works. The phrase only began to circulate on social media in late 2020 and early 2021,

 

[PakFactor]

Rating: Misattributed

Rating Explanation: Research by TruthOrFiction.com, as well as an in-depth look into the writings of Sun Tzu and ‘The Art of War’, confirm that the quote ‘An evil man will burn his own nation to the ground to rule over the ashes.’ is not present in any of Sun Tzu’s known works. The phrase only began to circulate on social media in late 2020 and early 2021,

I stand corrected; thank you. It's been over ten years since I last read my little red book. However, the meaning could still be applied to Pakistan.