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From: Yusuf Hussain

To: Shahzad Ahmad

Cc: pakistanictpolicy@yahoogroups.com ; pakgrid@yahoogroups.com ; bytesforall_readers@yahoogroups.com ; amumtaz@... ; wahaj@... ; Imran Akhtar Shah ; owais.zaidi@... ; abutt@... ; Ansar ; Jahan Ara ; Yusuf Hussain ; Member IT (Tariq Badsha) ; Ashraf.Kapadia@... ; Jawwad Farid ; danish@... ; Saeed@... ; Muhammad Zia ullah ; danish.q@... ; Khawaja Saad ; Omar.Saeed@... ; Asad Karim ; ak@... ; members@... ; operators@... ; INFO ; Ashar Iqbal ; Zubair ; mtaheer@... ; Saad Ansari ; asad karim ; Saad Rahman ; salman@...

Sent: Saturday, December 16, 2006 9:11 AM

Subject: Re: [pakistanictpolicy] Cogilent Solutions: Ordeal

Dear Shahzad,

This is indeed a tragedy for which there must be accountability and measures taken to prevent anything like this from happening again. Do note though that PSEB has been unequivocally and aggressively pushing for the release of Faisal since day one. This is our responsibility. We have got the Minister and Secretary IT to call PTA and FIA repeatedly. I can tell you that despite a painful attack of rheumatism, the Secretary -- who is with me here in Malaysia -- was on the phone with me all night calling FIA, PTA, Ministry of IT and Ministry of Interior.

As Chairman PTA was out of the country, things have been slow. I have cut short a trip to Malaysia and am returning today. My objective is to ensure that no further blunders happen -- one had been implicitly assured by several quarters that the bail would happen. My other objective is to provide psychological support to Faisal in his time of need.

Being from the IT industry and a former CEO, who is only doing a short stint with the Government, I can see myself in Faisal's shoes and feel his pain. This is  why I was with him for almost two hours on the first morning of his arrest and left only when the Director FIA there forced me to. Also we arranged a lawyer for him who was replaced a couple of days latter by Cogilent with their company lawyer.

Yusuf Hussain
MD PSEB

On 12/15/06, Shahzad Ahmad <shahzad@...> wrote:

Dear Salman sab,

 

Not only this is very painful but totally unacceptable. As more and more people getting to know about it, the unrest is rising among IT Community.

 

Yes, prevailing situation will have scars and far reaching, very negative consequences. PSEB, Ministry and/or "authority" can not even comprehend.

 

Somebody wrote that PTA's General is supportive so this is strange that why Faisal's bail is refused then. PTA could have withdrawn the case for redressel out of court. This is ugly on the part of ministry, PTA and yes on us all.

 

Very unfortunate that our voices are so weak that it could not help any logical solution to this pathetic drama. A very well respected, peaceful, highly educated segment of our society is now hostage to the high handedness of intelligence agencies and blind "authority".

 

Salman sab, yes, it is challenge. Otherwise I know that discussions among young colleagues is turning towards kay "Pakistan Say Zinda Bhaag". Can somebody gauge the impact of this, if it happens??

 

Let me know, and am available for anything useful that can help Faisal and/or the cause.

 

Am posting this to whole Bytesforall community and would request everyone that we need your support. Yes, even your words, your solidarity messages will count. Build up pressure folks, move the civil society as well.

 

All yours. Please advise.

 

Best

Shahzad

 

 

----- Original Message -----

From: Salman Ansari

To: pakgrid@yahoogroups.com ; 'Yusuf Hussain' ; 'Saad Rahman'

Cc: amumtaz@... ; wahaj@... ; 'Imran Akhtar Shah' ; owais.zaidi@... ; abutt@... ; 'Ansar' ; 'Jahan Ara' ; 'Yusuf Hussain' ; 'Member IT (Tariq Badsha)' ; Ashraf.Kapadia@... ; 'Jawwad Farid' ; danish@... ; 'Saeed@...' ; 'Muhammad Zia ullah' ; danish.q@... ; 'Khawaja Saad' ; Omar.Saeed@... ; 'Asad Karim' ; ak@... ; members@... ; operators@... ; 'INFO' ; 'Ashar Iqbal' ; 'Zubair' ; mtaheer@... ; pakistanictpolicy@yahoogroups.com ; 'Saad Ansari' ; 'asad karim'

Sent: Friday, December 15, 2006 5:24 PM

Subject: [pakistanictpolicy] Cogilent Solutions: Ordeal

Please stand up and be counted: how many of you have visited Faisal or are willing to go and give him and his family the support and confidence that they are not alone. Here is weekend coming up, so no excuses.

Perhaps also take on the responsibility to get better lawyers. Speak high up in the government, FIA, Generals, Secretaries, CEOs, President, IG Police,  anything and anyone who can matter….

Do something practical to make Faisal's ordeal a bit less painful.

Wahaj will tell you how you can visit him (in case you do not wish to use your own initiative) and it will be interesting to see how many are concerned enough to move beyond this exchange of e-mails.

Distribute this mail far and wide on all mailing groups and people that you know across Pakistan and beyond. Let us not passively accept this as fate.

I pray that there will be many of you with a conscience and a passion for justice and fairness and we are not dead as a people.

This is my personal challenge especially to the young people who have still not been corrupted with cynicism and selfishness of my generation.

Make us proud.

Please.

Salman

---

From: pakgrid@yahoogroups.com [mailto:pakgrid@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Nadeem A. Malik
Sent: Friday, December 15, 2006 3:48 PM
To: Yusuf Hussain; Saad Rahman
Cc: pakgrid@yahoogroups.com; amumtaz@...; wahaj@...; Imran Akhtar Shah; owais.zaidi@...; abutt@...; Ansar; Jahan Ara; Yusuf Hussain; Member IT (Tariq Badsha); Ashraf.Kapadia@...; Jawwad Farid; danish@...; Saeed@...; Muhammad Zia ullah; danish.q@...; Khawaja Saad; Omar.Saeed@...; Asad Karim; ak@...; members@...; operators@...; INFO; Ashar Iqbal; Zubair; mtaheer@...; pakistanictpolicy@yahoogroups.com; Saad Ansari; asad karim
Subject: [pakgrid] Re: Cogilent Solutions: Ordeal

Dear All

I've just spoken to Wahaj and learned that bail for Fasial has been refused. Yusuf, unfortunately, MoIT channel did  not work either. Now petition for bail must go to High Court.


Nadeem A. Malik


On 12/15/06 10:54 AM, "Yusuf Hussain" <yhuss2000@...> wrote:

Unfortunately I am stuck in Malaysia with spotty access to email (this is my gmail account), but everyone can rest assured that PSEB will certainly continue to pursue this matter aggressively to its conclusion. There are three parallel lines that one needs to move on, I think:
 
1. Get Faisal out. (Hopefully this has been done already.) We are working closely with the Minister and Secretary IT to accomplish this.  All other channels and approaches have not worked for us.
 
2. Prevent anything like this from happening again. A clear change in the rules has to be brought in. This could include a)  clarification of the concerned legislation, b) verfication by other parties like ISPAK or the ISP etc before any such raid is every conducted, c) intermediary steps like legal notices and fines, and d) punitive measures if a raid is conducted wrongly. Or else perhaps VoIP could be legalized for all -- I don't know.
 
3. Until the above rule change happens, we must help prevent any other company from going through this by informing them of the incident, the alleged case, and the possible danger posed to them -- which was the intent of that PSEB newsletter sent earlier.
 
Thanks
 
Yusuf Hussain
MD PSEB

 
On 12/14/06, Saad Rahman <msaadrahman@yahoo.com> wrote:

Asalam Alekum ,

Over the past few days I have been following this discussion though. I think it would be better to bring it in the knowledge of the President himself through his website www.presidentofpakistan.gov.pk <http://www.presidentofpakistan.gov.pk/> . I have heard of a few cases that had been forwarded on that forum and have received a good response also some timely justice in some of the cases. It just might happen that the system might work for this case in point as well.

Regards,
Saad Rahman

Salman Ansari <salman@super.net.pk> wrote:

It is indeed an irony that this very painful episode is causing 'Convergence' of another kind in ICT. For a change, people from the Telecom sector (all varieties) and the IT sector are coming together for a common cause. I hope that this unity continues for the betterment of IT and Telecoms in Pakistan.
 
I hope that sense will prevail and we can bring the suffering to an end once the PTA can be convinced about the tragedy of this particular action. Though, I can understand their perspective in carrying out this 'raid' since they have been chasing ghosts and tracking down illegal operators (mostly at the behest of PTCL) and it is important that the professionals convince the Chairman PTA so that the lower staff whose wrong conclusions have led to this situation, do not prevail. My fear is that unless this is handled carefully, the people at Cogilent will suffer, becoming unwitting pawns in the middle.
 
Unfortunately the big fish who have minted millions are scot-free and never touched. The press release is not correct as this avoids mentioning the facts and parrots out incorrect data. I hope that the Chairman PTA will go through the case with a tooth comb.
 
In my personal view it is the PTCL which should be charge sheeted and brought to justice this time, to ensure that they stop pulling the ICT industry down just to overcome their own incompetence in being able to handle their business in a competitive environment. It is they who filed the complaint in the first place, gave the so called proof to the PTA and then accompanied the FIA into the Miami Vice type of a bust of this software house.
 
The issue is also the lack of understanding of the term VoIP by all concerned (as Ansar mildly put it, difference between 'voice' and 'speech'): PTA, Ministry and worst of all the PTCL. This term has been tainted by its misuse by everyone concerned for defining illegal call termination into Pakistan. Perhaps we can have this event bring this into clarity for the PTA and others that everything today is IP (all new operators in Pakistan use IP equipment). The same is used by Skype, MSN, in all voice applications today. There are thousands of people (like me) in Pakistan who use this and are by the same flawed judgment, are common criminals.
 
All LDIs, LL, WLL, new cellular and Optical fibre systems deployments use NGN equipment. Almost all applications being developed use IP: VoIP, Video over IP, IPTV…these need products to be developed by our industry. I do not agree with PSEB that the PTA would need to be asked before someone can do any development in this domain. We just need to get this issue sorted out once and for all.
 
The charges are so flawed that even the items mentioned in the charges (see PSEB note) are perhaps just to influence the judge and show this to be a heinous crime. The Telegraph Act of 1885 was superseded by the Telecom act of 1996 (in this context), the mention of the clauses of the Electronic Transaction Ordinance have no relevance to the issue at all. Was the mention of the Pakistan Penal Code necessary so that there is some reason to hold the person without correct charges? Were all these items mentioned, as the Police throws in the kitchen sink in FIRs, to be able to drag the people through a mess?
 
I would like the Chairman PTA to please ask for explanation from his staff on this issue. This is also perhaps one of the reasons why most of the really guilty people prosecuted for illegal traffic, get away?
 
Almost 90% of all international calls that come in via ALL operators including PTCL, do not show these with international number prefixes: either the + or the 00 is dropped, so that they can avoid the APC to the LL operators or paying the PTA for the USF. I wonder how many of these have been charged or convicted?  These have been the biggest 'terminators' of the so-called illegal traffic. The PTCL itself broke the PTA law by cheating and selling rates into Pakistan at less then 5 cents when the rate set by the PTA was over 10 cents. Was the PTCL fined or penalized for this 'theft' and flouting the PTA and Government Policy?
 
This is where the millions of dollars have been siphoned off not by people like Cogilent.
 
After the excellent decision by the PTA to reduce the accounting rate to 2.5 cents the only people who can make money are the 'legal' operators not the pirates. Just do the numbers. Perhaps the focus of the team should now finally shift to the real gold mine.
 
I would also request the Chairman PTA to review the press release with the facts on the ground see the mass of e-mails of the people in the industry and data about what the raiding party actually got hold of and how they interpreted it. Just start from the simple fact that:
 

1. There were 4 telephone lines and PTCL should be asked to present detailed bills for the millions of rupees worth of damages caused.
2. There was NO voice gateway as the pirates use
3. The website of Cogilent shows what they do – develop voice products using IP technology – so the asterix switch and the internal CDRs (no relation with actual call CDRs - I hope the PTA/FIA people know how to interpret these).
4. A squid based server and a few PCs
5. No humongous GSM gateways.
6. The GSM SIMs all have detailed records from the relevant operators and can show how many calls were made

The point I am making is how carelessly a company's reputation can be damaged by the action and its follow up.

So first things first, we need to convince the PTA with  details to be able to understand the issue which is not a simple error in judgment and can be brushed aside. Since handing this over to the gestapo like tactics of the law enforcers, to coerce some sort of a confession, will irreparably damage this nascent industry and the credibility of the PTA itself.
 
While we may (Inshallah) be able to get to the end of this miserable episode by convincing the PTA and the Government of the error and damage caused, we need to constructively engage the PTA and the MoIT, to make sure that this does not happen again, especially under the pressure of the PTCL.
 
Please pardon me for the long mail but I feel very passionately about the issue and the unfairness of it all.

Regards
 
Salman
 

---

From: Muhammad Tahir [mailto: mtaheer@... <http://gmail.com/> ]
Sent: Tuesday, December 12, 2006 4:43 PM
To: amumtaz@...
Cc: wahaj@....pk; Nadeem A. Malik; Imran Akhtar Shah; owais.zaidi @access.net <http://access.net/> .pk; abutt@callcenter. net.pk <http://net.pk/> ; Salman Ansari; Ansar; Jahan Ara; Yusuf Hussain; Member IT (Tariq Badsha); Ashraf.Kapadia@...; Jawwad Farid; danish@...  <mailto:danish@...> ; Saeed@...; Muhammad Zia ullah; danish.q@...; Khawaja Saad; Omar.Saeed@... ; Asad Karim; ak@...; members@ispak. com.pk <http://com.pk/> ; operators@dsl.net.pk <http://net.pk/> ; INFO; Ashar Iqbal; Zubair
Subject: [Norton AntiSpam] Peacefull protest against illegal Raid on Cogilent Solutions.

Dear all,
Faisal is still in jail on 8th day of his arrest. We tried many corners but no one seems to be listening and acting in the way they should have been. This is now clearly established that Cogilent didn't do any illegal job and whatever they've been doing, was perfectly covered under the laws of Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
In order to highlight the issue before press and IT community, friends of Faisal, Jawad, Cogilent and IT/CS professionals of twin cities would be arranging a peaceful and graceful protest in front of Software Technology Park-II, Evacuee Trust Complex, Aga Khan Road, Next to Marriot Hotel, on Wednesday, 13 December 2006 at 1:30 pm sharp.
This would be an activity for half an hour to express solidarity with Faisal/Cogilent, to demand immediate release of Faisal, with drawl of the illegal and fake case and punishment for those who have taken this colonial and barbaric step. Faisal's old bed ridden mother is grief-sicken, Jawad (accused CTO, still 'at large' in FIA files) with his young daughter who was detected with brain tumor few days ago, is running from pillar to post. Cogilent is practically shut down with FIA teams going there every day and harassing them with dire consequences. The whole team of young CS guys is in miserable shape and need your help. They're suffering due to high headedness of government officials, but no one is trying to heal their wounds.
Please join all for this protest in front of Software Technology Park-II, Evacuee Trust Complex, Aga Khan Road, Next to Marriot Hotel, on Wednesday, 13 December 2006 at 1:30 pm sharp. Please do bring the play cards with you condemning the act and highlighting the need of justice.
Tahir
Project Manager
Cogilent Solutions
051- 2871173
 
On 12/12/06, Wahaj us Siraj < wahaj@....pk <mailto:wahaj@...> > wrote:
Dear all,
 
Enclosed is the PTA's Determination on PC to Phone services being legal effective 01 Jan 03. This was the case fought by ISPAK in PTA for a long time.
 
Here's the letter that we sent to Chairman PTA yesterday. Nothing moved yet in the power corridors and poor Faisal is still in jail on 8 th day of illegal custody.
 
Kind regards…Wahaj
 

Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan
(ISPAK)

 
 

11 December 2006

 
 
Maj. Gen. (R) Shahzada Alam Malik
Chairman
Pakistan Telecommunication Authority
Islamabad

 
Subject:        Raid on M/s Cogilent Solutions, Islamabad for Alleged
                    VOIP Termination

 
Dear Sir,
 
 
          We would like to draw your kind attention to the raid conducted by PTA/ FIA on Islamabad based software company, M/s Cogilent Solutions and arrest of its CEO, Mr. Faisal Chohan on 05 December 06. ISPAK has thoroughly investigated the case and concluded that the company was not involved in any illegal voice termination/origination service based on the following facts:
 
     i.     Cogilent had only 4 PSTN lines (3 phones and one fax) from PTCL and their monthly bills of last one year don't indicate any calls other than their normal office use.
 
    ii.     Raiding team couldn't find any GSM gateway/s or SIMs in Cogilent's office premises.
 
  iii.     There is no evidence of A or B Tel numbers from the logs servers confiscated by the raiding team.
 
  iv.     Record of Cogilent's DSL connection from its DSL service provider doesn't indicate any abnormal use or pattern typical of regular or commercial VOIP activity. They've utilized on average of 10 Gbyte of data per month (upload + download) which is very normal for regular Internet use only.
 
   v.     Cogilent however did make few (not  exceeding 20) PC to phone overseas calls every month using Internet but these calls are perfectly legal as per PTA's Determination of December 2002.
 
2.       We'd request for an urgent meeting with you and your team to present the evidence and explain joint industry's point of view in detail on innocence of M/s Cogilent so that this case is settled and ordeal of Mr. Faisal Chohan could be ended without further suffering.
 
3.       Needless to say that whole IT industry of the country including ISPs, Call Centers and Software Houses are very perturbed over this incident and want to see a quick end to the suffering of the company employees and with drawl of the case.
 
          With kind regards.
 
 

Yours truly,
 
 
 
Wahaj us Siraj
Convener

---

From: Nadeem A. Malik [mailto: namalik@...]
Sent: Tuesday, December 12, 2006 11:57 AM
To: Imran Akhtar Shah; wahaj@....pk; owais.zaidi@ access.net.pk; abutt@callcenter.net.pk; 'Salman Ansari'; 'Ansar'; Jahan Ara; Yusuf Hussain; 'Member IT (Tariq Badsha)'; Ashraf.Kapadia@...
Cc: 'Jawwad Farid'; danish@...; ' Saeed@... <mailto:Saeed@...> '; 'Muhammad Zia ullah'; danish.q@...; 'Khawaja Saad'; Omar.Saeed@...; 'Asad Karim'; ak@...; members@ispak.com.pk; operators@dsl. net.pk; 'Atif Mumtaz'
Subject: Re: PTA/FIA Raids an Islamabad Software Company and Puts CEO behind bars......

Technology has a shelf life of a banana then how could you regulate it? Who make all these rules and decide when to use them. For answer " Everyone has right to University Degree, even its in Hamburger Technology".

IT business  profoundly depend on science and technology (news for many :).  At many Govt agencies almost no one understands  technology and its dynamics.  This is a prescription for disaster.  This combustible mixture of ignorance and power has blow up in our faces in this case.

PSEB did miss the point. The greatest task for PSEB is to make this country destination of choice for IT business by making Govt agencies aware of IT business dynamics and create conducive business environment. The following is from PSEB web site:
"

• Act as a bridge between the private IT companies and the various government bodies
• Study the laws, regulations and strategies of various competitor countries and explore new markets for the Pakistan IT industry

"
 Action like these won't help to achieve these goals.

Best Regards

Nadeem A. Malik




On 12/12/06 10:49 AM, "Imran Akhtar Shah" < imran@... <mailto:imran@...> > wrote:
PSEB,
 
Please learn from the mistakes till date you guys have done. Instead of a booming Software Industry and outsource business (Call Centers) , where Pakistan is today…you all should reflect back and correct your approach.
 
ISPAK is proud to be the torch bearer of ISP & Telecom industry in Pakistan, this is the time you guys go to basics and read the charter of PSEB for Heaven Sake!
 
Regards,
Imran Akhtar Shah
 

---

From: Wahaj us Siraj [ mailto:wahaj@...] <mailto:wahaj@...%5d>  
Sent: Monday, December 11, 2006 8:47 PM
To: wahaj@....pk; owais.zaidi@ access.net.pk; 'Nadeem A. Malik'; abutt@callcenter.net.pk; 'Salman Ansari'; 'Ansar'; 'Jahan Ara'; 'Yusuf Hussain'; 'Member IT (Tariq Badsha)'; Ashraf.Kapadia@...
Cc: 'Jawwad Farid'; danish@...; ' Saeed@... <mailto:Saeed@...> '; 'Muhammad Zia ullah'; danish.q@...; 'Khawaja Saad'; Omar.Saeed@...; 'Asad Karim'; ak@...; members@ispak.com.pk; operators@dsl. net.pk; 'Atif Mumtaz'
Subject: RE: PTA/FIA Raids an Islamabad Software Company and Puts CEO behind bars......


PSEB,
 
Instead of supporting the cause and stand up against aggression, you're intimidating your own members. Cogilent did nothing illegal. The authorities acted in illegal way. PTA itself has permitted PC to Phone VOIP calls in December 02.
 
Kind regards…Wahaj
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Salman Ansari [ mailto:salman@...]  <mailto:salman@...%5d>
Sent: Monday, December 11, 2006 12:08 PM
To: 'news@....pk'
Subject: RE: ILLEGAL USE OF VOICE OVER INTERNET PROTOCOL (VOIP) TECHNOLOGY__
 
What an irony...
 
PSEB, you seem to be missing the point completely.
 
Salman
 
-----Original Message-----
From: PSEB [  mailto:news@...] <mailto:news@...%5d>
Sent: Monday, December 11, 2006 11:54 AM
Subject: ILLEGAL USE OF VOICE OVER INTERNET PROTOCOL (VOIP) TECHNOLOGY__ __ILLEGAL USE OF VOICE OVER INTERNET PROTOCOL (VOIP) TE
 
____
__ILLEGAL USE OF VOICE OVER INTERNET PROTOCOL (VOIP) TECHNOLOGY__
 
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) are taking a serious view of any violation of the Pakistan Telecommunication (Re-organization) Act 1996 and in particular non-authorized use of the Internet for Voice Traffic (VOIP). Recently PTA & FIA conducted a raid on an Islamabad based software development company and arrested its CEO for alleged illegal termination of calls (illegal use of VOIP). The company was accused of committing offences under section 31 of the Pakistan Telecommunication (Re-organization) Act 1996, section 36/37 of Electronic Transaction Ordinance 2002, section 25 C of Telegraphic Act 1885 and sections 34/420 of Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).
 
Pakistan Software Export Board urges all of its member companies to comply with the legal undertaking provided when signing up for Internet Service Provision as well as all rules, regulations and conditions prescribed in relevant laws which can be accessed at the following URLs:
 
1.    Pakistan Telecommunication (Re-organization) Act 1996 at
www.pta.gov.pk <http://www.pta.gov.pk/>  < www.pta.gov.pk <http://www.pta.gov.pk/> >
2.    Electronic Transaction Ordinance 2002 at
www.pakistan.gov.pk/divisions/itandtelecom-division/media/eto2002.pdf <http://www.pakistan.gov.pk/divisions/itandtelecom-division/media/eto2002.pdf>  < www.pakistan.gov.pk/divisions/itandtelecom-division/media/eto2002.pdf <http://www.pakistan.gov.pk/divisions/itandtelecom-division/media/eto2002.pdf> >
 
Unless you are a call center registered with the PSEB, you should not be using the Internet for Voice Traffic. In addition, you must comply with all rules, regulations and conditions of operation as a call center. The detailed procedure for facilitation of Domestic and International Call
Centers can be downloaded   from the website of PTCL at
www.ptcl.com.pk/tariff/call_centres/download/call_center_policy.doc  <http://www.ptcl.com.pk/tariff/call_centres/download/call_center_policy.doc>
 
                     
Kindly note that if you are a developer of VoIP products, who generates minimal voice traffic over the Internet for product testing purposes only, then you are advised to please contact PTA for clarification and special permission with full justification of the case with a copy to PSEB at info@....pk.
Note that illegal generation of VoIP traffic can lead to arrest, imprisonment, and/or fines under the applicable rules and regulations stated above.
 
Sajid Iqbal
Manager Domestic Business
Pakistan Software Export Board
2nd Floor, Evacuee Trust Complex
F-5, Agha Khan Road, Islamabad-Pakistan
Ph: +92-51-9220812
 
  
 
 
 
 
 

---

From: Wahaj us Siraj [ mailto:wahaj@...] <mailto:wahaj@...%5d>  
Sent: Monday, December 11, 2006 6:14 PM
To: 'owais.zaidi@access.net.pk'; 'Nadeem A. Malik'; ' abutt@callcenter.net.pk'; 'Salman Ansari'; 'Ansar'; 'Jahan Ara'; 'Yusuf Hussain'; 'Member IT (Tariq Badsha)'; ' Ashraf.Kapadia@...'
Cc: 'Jawwad Farid'; ' danish@...'; ' Saeed@... <mailto:Saeed@...> '; 'Muhammad Zia ullah'; 'danish.q@...'; 'Khawaja Saad'; ' Omar.Saeed@... <mailto:Omar.Saeed@...> '; 'Asad Karim'; 'ak@...'; ' members@ispak. com.pk <mailto:members@...> '; 'operators@dsl.net.pk'; 'Atif Mumtaz'
Subject: RE: PTA/FIA Raids an Islamabad Software Company and Puts CEO behind bars......

---

From: Owais Zaidi [ mailto:owais.zaidi@...] <mailto:owais.zaidi@...%5d>  
Sent: Saturday, December 09, 2006 3:31 PM
To: 'Nadeem A. Malik'; abutt@callcenter.net.pk; wahaj@....pk; 'Salman Ansari'; 'Ansar'; 'Jahan Ara'; 'Yusuf Hussain'; 'Member IT (Tariq Badsha)'; Ashraf.Kapadia@...
Cc: 'Jawwad Farid'; danish@...  <mailto:danish@...> ; ' Saeed@... <mailto:Saeed@...> '; 'Muhammad Zia ullah'; danish.q@...; 'Khawaja Saad'
Subject: RE: PTA/FIA Raids an Islamabad Software Company and Puts CEO behind bars......

As Pasha General Secretary, I will appreciate if someone from Cogilent provides a schematic for their setup with components clearly identified. I have talked to our corporate lawyer and he has asked for this diagram.
 
Regards,
 

Owais Zaidi

Coporate Office
phone: +92 21 455 4016
cell: +92 301 823 1188
C 30, Mohd Ali Housing Society
Karachi 75400, Pakistan
 
EBusiness Ops Center
phone: +92 21 565 6293
601, STSM Foundation Building
Beaumont Road, Civil Lines
Karachi 75530
 
www.access.net.pk <http://www.access.net.pk/>

 
DISCLAIMER: This e-mail contains proprietary information some of which may be legally privileged. It is for the intended recipient only. If an addressing or transmission error has misdirected this e-mail, please notify the author by replying to it. If you are not the intended recipient you may not use, disclose, distribute, copy, print or rely on this e-mail.

---

From: Nadeem A. Malik [mailto:namalik@...] <mailto:namalik@...%5d>  
Sent: Saturday, December 09, 2006 11:26 AM
To: abutt@callcenter.net.pk; wahaj@....pk; 'Salman Ansari'; 'Ansar'; Jahan Ara; Yusuf Hussain; 'Member IT (Tariq Badsha)'; Ashraf.Kapadia@...   <mailto:Ashraf.Kapadia@...>
Cc: 'Owais Zaidi'; 'Jawwad Farid'; danish@...; ' Saeed@...'; 'Muhammad Zia ullah'; danish.q@...; 'Khawaja Saad'
Subject: Re: PTA/FIA Raids an Islamabad Software Company and Puts CEO behind bars......

It is an unfortunate incident and have shown what kind of respect PTCL has for our industry. Making Public Monopoly into private monopoly was bad a call and was told to decision makers. Now we are experiences the greatest privatization's results , LDI and LL operators are scaling back their operations, Call Centers, BPO, SW Houses are feeling the pinch due to PTCL's resistance to reduce the bandwidth charges and its least concern regarding the quality of services.

Now, adding insult to injury, PTCL/PTA/FIA acted in old colonial day manner, "Guilty until proven innocent". PTCL and PTA claim to have records to prove their claim but that still does not justify the action. This should be just a dispute between  two parties not fight where one with bigger stick wins.

During the meeting with Chairman PTA and other officials on Oct 30, 2006, among other issues PASHA raised the similar fears i.e that our companies are reluctant to take projects which requires IP based voice setups since currently there is no frame work exists with PTA. Further, it was told that any wrong action on either party can put our industry in awkward position and may jeopardize its growth. Chairman PTA assured us that they will evaluate and develop framework to cover such aspects.

We must exert our joint efforts to resolve this and develop framework for future. Wahaj, let's call a joint meeting of ISPAK, PASHA and other stakeholders ASAP and take up this with MoIT and PTA.

Best Regards


Nadeem A. Malik



On 12/9/06 7:18 AM, " abutt@callcenter.net.pk <mailto:abutt@...> " < abutt@callcenter.net.pk <mailto:abutt@...> > wrote:
Dear Colleagues ! This infact is act that cannot be left with out making the concerns realize that they have done a wrong thing, About two years back PTCL did the same thing in Karachi when they raided SUPER PHONE facility at Gerry's office, near Hotel Metropole,  Super Phone management acted fast and with support from industry, immediately Minister of IT Mr Leghari was contacted same evening,  Nice of Minister sahib who called up Chief Minister Sind, prompt action was taken the concerned police officials were suspended, but nothing was done of PTCL folks who instigated this raid.
 
I agree with Wahaj that this has to be taken to the highest authority, in this context ACCO stands by all of you, with all our media contacts,  we are already discussing with our members the next course of action that will include but not limited to bringing the PTCL management on air along with PTA, by getting our associated TV channels to go after them and bring them in a debate with the Industry players and make them answer the questions. Also to send press releases to all news papers. Then seek PSEB to get all of the stake holders get appointment with IT minister, so proper report can be presented along with PTCL officials.
 
We also with Salman shab, that it looks like no body in PTCL seems to be bothered about ITES sector and its growth, and the new management are trying to run this company as a monopoly.
 
On 8th at CONNECT IT call center session, I have already spoken on this in public during  ACCO presentation, and had discussion with Sind IT Advisor, Mr Nauman Saigol also.
 
Regards
 
Abdullah Butt
ACCO
 
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Wahaj us Siraj [mailto:wahaj@...] <mailto:wahaj@...%5d>  <mailto:wahaj@...%5d>  
Sent: Friday, December 08, 2006 1:17 PM
To: 'Salman Ansari'; 'Ansar'; 'Jehan Ara'; abutt@...; md@....pk; 'Member IT (Tariq Badsha)'; Ashraf.Kapadia@...
Cc: Ashraf.Kapadia@...; 'Nadeem A. Malik'; 'Owais Zaidi'; 'Jawwad Farid'; danish@...; 'Saeed@...'; 'Muhammad Zia ullah'; danish.q@...; 'Khawaja Saad'
Subject: RE: PTA/FIA Raids an Islamabad Software Company and Puts CEO behind bars......

Salman bhai,

Infact, Yusuf has been supporting this case since it was brought to his knowledge. He has gone many extra miles to support this case which no bureaucrat would have done. He even arranged lawyer for the Faisal's first court appearance on Wednesday and we really appreciate this. Such steps were never taken by any of his predecessors.
 
PASHA should take a tough stand on this as this happened with a software company. Industry forums need to be more vocal and strong. Otherwise, it's doomed to happen with anyone else tomorrow.
 
Kind regards…Wahaj

---

From: Salman Ansari [ mailto:salman@...]  <mailto:salman@...%5d> <mailto:salman@...%5d>  
Sent: Friday, December 08, 2006 12:33 PM
To: wahaj@....pk; 'Ansar'; 'Jehan Ara'; abutt@...; md@....pk; 'Member IT ( Tariq Badsha)'; Ashraf.Kapadia@...
Cc: Ashraf.Kapadia@...  <mailto:Ashraf.Kapadia@...> ; 'Nadeem A. Malik'; 'Owais Zaidi'; 'Jawwad Farid'; danish@...; ' Saeed@... <mailto:Saeed@...> '; 'Muhammad Zia ullah'; danish.q@...; 'Khawaja Saad'
Subject: PTA/FIA Raids an Islamabad Software Company and Puts CEO behind bars......

Dear Yusuf
 
This is perhaps your first really big challenge. If the PM can get ecstatic about the billions of dollars worth of SW export out of Pakistan, I am sure he should be very concerned about this major fiasco. Please do not let this issue die without this company getting a big public apology and financial compensation – perhaps some good use of the billions in the R&D fund.
 
I really wonder if the PSEB and MoIT will move in this or will this be another passive, business as usual case. After the silly taxing of computers and IT equipment, with no redress from the MoIT, the government should just give up this sector and forget about the plans that you have crafted so well and are training people and creating resources like Tech parks and those of the HEC is assiduously creating PhDs for stimulating a knowledge economy.
 
When will we get over the Stalinist attitude on VoIP? After the reduction of APC to 2.5 cents thereby reducing the motivation of PTCL no longer circumventing the PTA rules (which everyone else has to follow) and terminating millions of minutes via their own Huawei switch in Lahore, the issue of the pot calling the kettle black has to stop and these meaningless raids have to stop. Specially ones like these.
 
It appears that we have sold our spirit, ethics and souls along with the 26%.
 
Salman
 

---

From: Wahaj us Siraj [ mailto:wahaj@...] <mailto:wahaj@...%5d>  <mailto:wahaj@...%5d>  
Sent: Friday, December 08, 2006 11:30 AM
To: wahaj@....pk ; 'Ansar'; 'Jehan Ara'; abutt@...
Cc: Ashraf.Kapadia@...  <mailto:Ashraf.Kapadia@...> ; 'Nadeem A. Malik'; 'Owais Zaidi'; 'Jawwad Farid'; danish@...; ' Saeed@... <mailto:Saeed@...> '; 'Muhammad Zia ullah'; danish.q@...; 'Khawaja Saad'; 'Salman Ansari'
Subject: RE: PTA/FIA Raids an Islamabad Software Company and Puts CEO behind bars......

Ansar,
 
I know these guys. They're just young CS/IT professionals. Atif, their founder is doing a fellowship in Stanford. Their DSL link was through us and this was a 512 k/12 Gb connection, mostly under utilized – not suitable at all to do VOIP terminations. They might have been doing some interoffice (Islamabad-CA) communication through IP, PC to PC, etc., but this is not 'illegal' and PTA's Determination also exist on this. So VIOP packets might have been flowing on their link but that is common on every broadband connection today. Even PTCL/PTA highups have IP phones at their homes.
 
Termination of international calls through VOIP requires either connectivity with PSTN or GSM gateway. Cogilent's office had only 4 phone lines from PTCL including one fax. No commercial termination of calls can take place on these four lines. PTCL would also have record of these outgoing calls and they can easily find out whether CLIs of these calls were recorded/displayed at any numbers while terminating international calls.
 
No GSM gateway was found in Cogilent's office as well. So no GSM/PSTN connectivity is established with VOIP. All previous raids of PTA have found PSTN/GSM gateways connected with IP but Cogilent had nothing of this sort. Even a small call termination setup required to terminate few thousands of minutes per month requires min of 20 PSTN or GSM lines connected to a gateway.
 
Cogilent was using an Asterisk server (Linux running SIP and other VOIP protocols) as office PABX which many office do around the globe. Even we use the same setup for our inter-office communication.
 
PTA has been silent on famous illegal call terminations of hundreds of millions minutes by NTC for more that two years, despite the hue and cry in media. They couldn't dare raid NTC premises and arrest men in khakis.
 
PTCL has been doing the same and still doing today, brining 40-50 million minutes of underhand grey traffic every month. PTA knows this. We've publicly pointed this out in a large meeting of PTA, PTCL and industry and this was recorded in minutes of the meeting by PTA. But PTA didn't dare raid ITMC, RWP, confiscate switch and arrest the officers and SEVPs there.
 
Large Cellular operators are doing same but no action taken.
 
This is worst case of abuse of public powers against small and fragile companies. Most sad part of this is that PTA has done so on the request and complaint of PTCL and conducted a joint raid. No law or constitution allows, PTCL, a private operator, to be a part of such effort.
 
We must invoke media and legal proceedings. PASHA and Call Centers should also raise voice with full force. We're written to Minister for IT for an urgent meeting and waiting for a response. If nothing comes up, young fellows in IT companies and call centers here are gearing up to do a demonstration in front of the Ministry of IT next week.
 
We're discussing with lawyers here. Cogilent had no backing and poor guys are running here and there, their families screaming. First priority is to get Faisal bailed out of the jail and then a counter case for abuse of public powers most probably through a Writ Petition in the High Court.
 
Kind regards…Wahaj
 
 
 

 

---

From: Ansar [ mailto:ansar@...] <mailto:ansar@...%5d>  <mailto:ansar@...%5d>  
Sent: Friday, December 08, 2006 10:32 AM
To: wahaj@....pk; 'Jehan Ara'; abutt@...
Subject: RE: PTA/FIA Raids an Islamabad Software Company and Puts CEO behind bars......

I think this time a joint concerted effort is required to try to bring the PTA/PTCL etc. out of stone ages. A case should be filed and heavy compensation should be demanded from the culprits for them to refrain from such damaging acts if we feel Cogilent Solutions is not guilty. Let me know your thoughts on this. Media can be invoked for clarification besides legal proceedings. I am ready to pay my share for such cause.
 
Rgds/Ansar
 
 
 
 

---

From: Wahaj us Siraj [ mailto:wahaj@...] <mailto:wahaj@...%5d>  <mailto:wahaj@...%5d>  
Sent: Thursday, December 07, 2006 12:12 PM
To: wahaj@....pk ; 'Amer Shafique'; 'Luqman Kamil'; operators@dsl.net.pk; akarim@burraqtel.com.pk; ajmal.ansari@...; shahid.bhutto@...; mukhtar@...; asad@....pk; yousaf@...; reneec@multinet. com.pk; peter.yeow@...; 'Maj Gen (Rtd.) Faisal Alavi'; 'Wajahat'; george.hashim@redtone.com.pk; 'Jamshed Masood'; 'Muhammad Ali Qazi'; Kashif@...; 'Shahid Firoz'; 'Shahid Naeem Butt'; 'BRIG SALEEM'; 'Azmat Ali'; asif.rumi@...; 'Adnan Asdar'; 'Kamil Khan'; rs@multinet.com.pk; 'Amjad Farooq Alvi'; bas@worldcall. net.pk; sq@worldcall.net.pk; affan.khan@telenor. com.pk; st@worldcall.net.pk; members@ispak. com.pk; operators@dsl.net.pk; Usman . ; 'Dr. I! rfan zafar'; ak@...; 'Yusuf Hussain'; 'Salman Ansari'; 'Talib Baloch'; arana@....pk; akazi@...; owais.khan@arwentech.com; umar.usmani@...; tanveer@securevoicelink.com; mshahid@securevoicelink.com; hamid@...; nasir@teleglobalservices.com; wali@...; sazim@...; ateeq@....pk; nasser.lone@resgrp.com; muneer.farooqui@...; jhumra@....pk; asim.saber@...; masood@...; mziaee@...; maniya@ites.com.pk; abutt@... ; dyl@....pk; fendi@...; naved@...; irfanfarooq@hotmail.com; farook@...; farooq@... ; farrukh@...; farrkuhjunaidy@dewangroup.com.pk; wmalik@touchstone.com.pk; adnan.husain@...; adnantahir@...; 'Ansar'; ak@...; operators@dsl.net.pk; 'Awais Leghari'; 'Noor-ud-Din Baqai MMember Telecom''; 'Farrakh Qayyum'; khakwan@brain.net.pk   <mailto:khakwan@...! > ; faslam@touchstonebpo.com; 'Rashid Khan'; 'Director Telecom, Mushtaq Ahmed Bhatti'; rehan@...
Subject: RE: PTA/FIA Raids an Islamabad Software Company and Puts CEO behind bars......

---

From: Wahaj us Siraj [ mailto:wahaj@...] <mailto:wahaj@...%5d>  <mailto:wahaj@...%5d>  
Sent: Wednesday, December 06, 2006 4:37 PM
To: 'Amer Shafique'; 'Luqman Kamil'; operators@dsl.net.pk; akarim@burraqtel.com.pk; ajmal.ansari@...; shahid.bhutto@...; mukhtar@...; asad@....pk; yousaf@...; reneec@multinet. com.pk; peter.yeow@...; 'Maj Gen (Rtd.) Faisal Alavi'; 'Wajahat'; george.hashim@redtone.com.pk; 'Jamshed Masood'; 'Muhammad Ali Qazi'; Kashif@...; 'Shahid Firoz'; 'Shahid Naeem Butt'; 'BRIG SALEEM'; 'Azmat Ali'; asif.rumi@...; 'Adnan Asdar'; 'Kamil Khan'; rs@multinet.com.pk; 'Amjad Farooq Alvi'; bas@worldcall. net.pk; sq@worldcall.net.pk; affan.khan@telenor. com.pk; st@worldcall.net.pk; operations@...; members@ispak.com.pk
Subject: PTA/FIA Raids an Islamabad Software Company and Puts CEO behind bars......

On a complaint filed by PTCL, PTA swiftly acts and arrests CEO of a software company located in Software Technology Park, Islamabad on alleged VOIP call termination. Here's the other part of story.

Kind regards…Wahaj

---

From: mumtaz.atif@gmail.com  <mailto:mumtaz.atif@...> [ mailto:mumtaz.atif@...] <mailto:mumtaz.atif@...%5d>  <mailto:mumtaz.atif@...%5d> On Behalf Of Atif Mumtaz
Sent: Tuesday, December 05, 2006 8:45 PM
To: jehan@cyber.net.pk
Cc: wahaj@....pk; aamatin@...; md@....pk; Ahmad Jawad
Subject: Request Assistance from PASHA

Asalam Alekum,

I wanted to share a recent harrowing experience that my company is going through in Pakistan. First a bit of a background.

I co-founded an internet Startup company, called Cogilent Solutions ( www.cogilent.com <http://www.cogilent.com/>  <http://www.cogilent.com/> ), in Islamabad, which runs a very successful job portal in the country called BrightSpyre ( www.BrightSpyre.com <http://www.brightspyre.com/>  <http://www.brightspyre.com/> ). Among our innovations, we were one of the first companies in the world to launch an integrated Voice Resume system based on VoIP technologies. And our solution is being used by companies like TRG and others to hire quality talent for their call centers in Pakistan.

On Tuesday Dec 4, Pakistan time, around noon, FIA (Federal Investigation Authority) and PTA (Pak Telecom Authority) walked into our offices, seized all our servers, mobiles and everything on the pretext that we are using it for illegal VoIP termination. They also locked up our current CEO, Faisal Chohan behind bars. Even when we explained to them that we are not doing call terminations, and only develop creative solutions for call centers to use, they would not listen.

Now, we are a small internet startup company based out of Software Technology Park, Islamabad. Nor do we have any connections with any major government or military establishments. We have no interest in call termination or anything of that sort. We are focused on BrightSpyre and bringing software revenue into the country through US based projects. Taking away all our servers means, we cannot deliver on those projects and locking up our CEO without any notices and warnings is also not a good step.

We request PASHA to officially look into the matter and help us resolve this crisis. Especially, the immediate release of our CEO, Faisal Chohan.

Regards,
Atif Mumtaz
650 796 9687


 

__________________________________________________
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Dear Saad,

 

This indeed is good suggestion. We also discussed this and some other possibilities last night. We were in consultation with Atif Mumtaz and quite a few others as well.

 

Atif Mumtaz has setup this blog at: http://wheelofjustice.blogspot.com/ and it has all sequence of happenings so far. Though it is not accessible from Pakistan but being based out of Sweden you will be able to access it. In Pakistan, we access it bypassing PTCL ;) Everybody in Pakistan, can access it through http://www.inblogs.net/. There are some pictures of the peaceful demonstration as well.

 

First thing is first, Saad, if you can write then draft 2-3 variants of short powerful letters/messages as advised by Salman sab also, and lets everyone start sending these to media and also these senior management level folks sitting in ministry and authority.   

 

We are also trying to put up an online petition. If we can gather few thousand signatures it will help I think.

 

The main idea is to get the attention of those who matter and then hopefully things will be resolved.

 

Yes, as was said by Yusuf sab of PSEB to possibly work towards changing the rules or further clarify the rules, so all of us should continue pushing for people-friendly, people-centered policy legislations and rules/regulations.

 

Remember Folks, a lot of voices will create noise, and noise is what needed right now... so please raise your voice everyone!...

 

B4A team http://pakistanictpolicy.bytesforall.net/ and Association for Progressive Communications www.apc.org  is with you all in this endeavor.

 

best wishes

 

Shahzad

 

 

----- Original Message -----

From: Saad Rahman

To: pakistanictpolicy@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Saturday, December 16, 2006 3:47 AM

Subject: [pakistanictpolicy] Re: [pashagroup] RE: Peaceful protest against illegal Raid on Cogilent Solutions

Asalam Alekum,

These are quite good ideas. If any kind of help is required to put
forward "The Awakening" of the Middle Class than I am all for it. Some
solid things to do would be to compile a complete story event by event
(can be compiled from the series of emails) and present it to people.
Also the same can be forwarded to magazines/newspapers/TV Channels
etc. If someone is working on this than I am all out to help them
write and organize things. With some past experience in journalism and
marketing I might be of some help.

Regards,
Saad Rahman
Linköping, Sweden
http://www.saadrahman.com

--- In pakistanictpolicy@yahoogroups.com, Mosharraf Zaidi
<mosharrafz@...> wrote:
>
>
>
> I agree with Wahaj's approach and I offer the following thoughts.
>
> 1) As a policy hack, I have a good grasp of the overarching
governance issues in IT policy--but I am all at sea when it comes
> to understanding the specifics. The technical detail that
professional colleagues talk about are Greek to ordinary observors.
> Someone needs to break down this information into digestible bites
that laymen can consume.
>
> 2) The audience for easily comprehensible descriptions of both the
overarching context of IT and telecom policy and specific
> incidents like Cogilent's need to be clear. Community, constituency,
client and context. The Pasha and ICT Policy forums address
> the issues of community. And I am sure companies are more than
capable of handling thier clients. But I am afraid we fall short in
> understanding our constituency and our context.
>
> 3) Constituency: Middle class readers of newspapers and watchers of
television need emotive stimuli in universally understandable
> language. I have yet to see the human element of the Cogilent story.
Did the arrested entrepreneur come to Pakistan, leaving
> behind a lucrative job in Silicon Valley? Does he have kids? A wife?
Old parents? This is the stuff that gets newspaper editors
> excited. Not the wrong IP address.
>
> 4) Context: Who is capable of making the most noise in Pakistan? I'd
offer opposition politicians as my first choice--and
> how many have we engaged so far? What about less noisy
demonstrations? How many DMG officers understand the issues?
> Ministry of Finance wallahs? Has someone tried to talk to Salman
Shah? Or Ashfaque Khan? Please understand, one doesn't need to
> like one's context--but we do need to get it. Decision-making in
Pakistan is based on three things. Patronage, profit and pressure.
> Middle class entrepreneurs don't do (or shouldn't be doing)
patronage. And they already try to make honest profits. So the only
> legitimate option is pressure. External--politicians.
Internal--bureaucrats.
>
> If Wahaj and Salman saahib can put a nuts and bolts presentation
together that can easily explain the larger issue and the specific
> incident I'll be happy to help arrange meetings with some of these
groups as soon as we're ready with a presentation. Let's not be
> content if and when the incident is resolved. As long as the
overarching policy environment remains the same, the next trip up the
> creek is not far.
>
> warm regards,
>
> Mosharraf Zaidi
>
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> > To: jawwad@...; wahaj@...; shakir@...; pashagroup@yahoogroups.com
> > CC: amumtaz@...; namalik@...; imran@...; owais.zaidi@...;
abutt@...; ansar@...; jehan@...; md@...; tbadsha@...;
Ashraf.Kapadia@...; danish@...; muhammad.ziaullah@...; danish.q@...;
saad@...; Omar.Saeed@...; akarim@...; ak@...; members@...;
operators@...; info@...; Ashar@...; zubair@...; mtaheer@...;
pakistanictpolicy@yahoogroups.com; pakgrid@yahoogroups.com;
saansari@...; asadkarim@...; jawad@...
> > From: salman@...
> > Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2006 17:54:27 +0500
> > Subject: [pakistanictpolicy] RE: [pashagroup] RE: Peaceful protest
against illegal Raid on Cogilent Solutions: Convergence - what an irony
> >
> > This news item seems to be the only mention about the protest in
the print media, though it wrongly gives me credit for being there and
making a statement. I was not there (perhaps should have been!) and
obviously did not give and interview. The statement was perhaps picked
off from my e-mail I sent to the group!
> > Maybe after Wahaj's shocking revelation of the incompetence of the
people who got this going in the first place, some sense may prevail.
My statement regarding the inability of the PTCL to understand what
Internet is all about stands justified, now that they cannot even
attribute an IP address to the right owner.
> > Salman
> > ________________________________
> > From: Jawwad Farid [mailto:jawwad@...]
> > Sent: Thursday, December 14, 2006 4:56 PM
> > To: wahaj@...; 'Shakir Husain'; pashagroup@yahoogroups.com
> > Cc: 'Salman Ansari'; amumtaz@...; 'Nadeem A. Malik'; 'Imran Akhtar
Shah'; owais.zaidi@...; abutt@...; 'Ansar'; 'Jahan Ara'; 'Yusuf
Hussain'; 'Member IT (Tariq Badsha)'; Ashraf.Kapadia@...; danish@...;
'Muhammad Zia ullah'; danish.q@...; 'Khawaja Saad'; Omar.Saeed@...;
'Asad Karim'; ak@...; members@...; operators@...; 'INFO'; 'Ashar
Iqbal'; 'Zubair'; mtaheer@...; pakistanictpolicy@yahoogroups.com;
pakgrid@yahoogroups.com; 'Saad Ansari'; 'asad karim'; 'Ahmed Jawad'
> > Subject: RE: [pashagroup] RE: Peaceful protest against illegal
Raid on Cogilent Solutions: Convergence - what an irony
> > Punitive damages – what is the cash that PTCL carries on its
balance sheet. If Cogilent can get a good lawyer they wouldn't need an
IPO, an out of court settlement with PTCL/Etisilat should do the trick.
> > Jawwad
> > ________________________________
> > From: Wahaj us Siraj [mailto:wahaj@...]
> > Sent: Thursday, December 14, 2006 4:43 PM
> > To: 'Shakir Husain'; pashagroup@yahoogroups.com
> > Cc: 'Salman Ansari'; amumtaz@...; 'Nadeem A. Malik'; 'Imran Akhtar
Shah'; owais.zaidi@...; abutt@...; 'Ansar'; 'Jahan Ara'; 'Yusuf
Hussain'; 'Member IT (Tariq Badsha)'; Ashraf.Kapadia@...; 'Jawwad
Farid'; danish@...; 'Muhammad Zia ullah'; danish.q@...; 'Khawaja
Saad'; Omar.Saeed@...; 'Asad Karim'; ak@...; members@...;
operators@...; 'INFO'; 'Ashar Iqbal'; 'Zubair'; mtaheer@...;
pakistanictpolicy@yahoogroups.com; pakgrid@yahoogroups.com; 'Saad
Ansari'; 'asad karim'; 'Ahmed Jawad'
> > Subject: RE: [pashagroup] RE: Peaceful protest against illegal
Raid on Cogilent Solutions: Convergence - what an irony
> > Dear all,
> > Another very shocking development. It's lately discovered that
PTA/FIA has raided the wrong office and premises. In the FIR of FIA,
IP address 203.99.57.224/29 is mentioned was not in use by Cogilent
Solutions. Actual IP address of Cogilent Solutions was
203.99.57.232/29. The IP No. 203.99.57.224/29 mentioned in FIR is in
use by some other customer.
> > This shows that PTA/FIA team has infact raided the wrong place,
wrong company without investigations and due diligence. They've nabbed
wrong and innocent person and severely damaged reputation of the
company. Poor Faisal is in jail for last 10 days and now he's proven
innocent. Let's hope that he gets out on bail tomorrow.
> > Kind regards…Wahaj
> > ________________________________
> > From: Shakir Husain [mailto:shakir@...]
> > Sent: Thursday, December 14, 2006 3:27 PM
> > To: pashagroup@yahoogroups.com
> > Cc: wahaj@...; Salman Ansari; amumtaz@...; Nadeem A. Malik; Imran
Akhtar Shah; owais.zaidi@...; abutt@...; Ansar; Jahan Ara; Yusuf
Hussain; Member IT (Tariq Badsha); Ashraf.Kapadia@...; Jawwad Farid;
danish@...; Muhammad Zia ullah; danish.q@...; Khawaja Saad;
Omar.Saeed@...; Asad Karim; ak@...; members@...; operators@...; INFO;
Ashar Iqbal; Zubair; mtaheer@...; pakistanictpolicy@yahoogroups.com;
pakgrid@yahoogroups.com; Saad Ansari; asad karim
> > Subject: Re: [pashagroup] RE: Peaceful protest against illegal
Raid on Cogilent Solutions: Convergence - what an irony
> > i have a few suggestions for the poor folks at Cogilent, PASHA
members, and generally people who are trying to run serious
businesses in the land of the pure.
> > 1) a hunger strike outside the MOITT offices with the press
covering it.
> > 2) unleashing a media blitz - i'd be more than happy to help out.
> > 3) a legal defense and damages against PTA for loss of revenues
and punitive damages.
> > 4) bring on Shaukat Aziz as a partner for your businesses - 10
percent should be good.
> > 5) get a retired army general and put him on your board.
> > 6) move your business to sharjah, vietnam, malaysia, oman, or
South Africa...
> > Saeed, as for your email on NADRA....i can assure you they could
terminate voice calls in bulk and no one could touch them!
> > Regards,
> > Shakir Husain
> > On 12/14/06, Saeed Qadri <saeed@...<mailto:saeed@...>> wrote:
> > OK: here is something very "interesting". NADRA our biggest IT
employer is procuring ATA devices and VOIP phones. Attached is the
scan of the tender that came out today. I wonder how legal that would
be. Maybe the next raid will be at NADRA's offices it is also
conveniently located near PTA like Cogilent.
> > Saeed Qadri
> > ________________________________
> > From: Wahaj us Siraj [mailto:wahaj@...<mailto:wahaj@...>]
> > Sent: Wednesday, December 13, 2006 5:39 PM
> > To: 'Salman Ansari'; amumtaz@...<mailto:amumtaz@...>
> > Cc: 'Nadeem A. Malik'; 'Imran Akhtar Shah';
owais.zaidi@...<mailto:owais.zaidi@...>; abutt@...<mailto:abutt@...>;
'Ansar'; 'Jahan Ara'; 'Yusuf Hussain'; 'Member IT (Tariq Badsha)';
Ashraf.Kapadia@...<mailto:Ashraf.Kapadia@...>; 'Jawwad Farid';
danish@...<mailto:danish@...>; 'Saeed@...<mailto:Saeed@...>';
'Muhammad Zia ullah'; danish.q@...<mailto:danish.q@...>; 'Khawaja
Saad'; Omar.Saeed@...<mailto:Omar.Saeed@...>; 'Asad Karim';
ak@...<mailto:ak@...>; members@...<mailto:members@...>;
operators@...<mailto:operators@...>; 'INFO'; 'Ashar Iqbal'; 'Zubair';
mtaheer@...<mailto:mtaheer@...>;
pakistanictpolicy@yahoogroups.com<mailto:pakistanictpolicy@yahoogroups.com>;
pakgrid@yahoogroups.com<mailto:pakgrid@yahoogroups.com>; 'Saad
Ansari'; 'Imran Akhtar Shah'; 'asad karim'; 'Ansar'
> > Subject: RE: Peaceful protest against illegal Raid on Cogilent
Solutions: Convergence - what an irony
> > This is the text of FIR:
> > FIA Crimes Circle, RWP
> > FIR No. 24/2006
> > Date: 5.12.06
> > Complainant: Mr.Sajjad Awan, Director PTA
> > Against: M/s Cogilent, STP-II, F-5, Islamabad
> > Today 5th December, 2006 written complaint from Mr. Sajjad Latif
Awan, Zonal Director (Enforcement) PTA Rawalpindi was received
addressed to Additional Director FIA Crime Circle as under-Pakistan
Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has received a report from Manager
Network Security & Surveillance\ (NSS) of Pakistan Telecommunication
Company Limited (PTCL) Islamabad dated 30th November, 2006 that some
illegal VOIP has been detected against IPs
203.99.57.224/29<http://203.99.57.224/29>. The Manager NSS requested
PTA to provide assistance in obtaining the final destination of the
IPs reported (Copy attached as Annex-X). the same was provided
accordingly (Attached Annex-Y). In response of the information above
PTA has received a complain from Manager Network Security &
Surveillance (NSS) of Pakistan Telecommunication Limited (PTCL) that
M/S Cogilent is involved transaction of International Voice traffic by
establishing and authorized computer based PABX/Gateway exchange at
205D, 2nd Floor, Evacuee Trust Complex, Agha Khan Road, F-5/1,
Islamabad. The complainant has further submitted relevant analytical
record of IP's though which the voice is being used internationally.
By looking into the record submitted the Manager NNS and the info
collected from Web Site of Company
(www.cogilent.com<http://www.cogilent.com/>) and having been satisfied
that the illegal business for wrongful gains and loss to Govt.
exchequer has occurred, undersigned believes, that is a prima-facie
case of violation of, in addition to others. Section 31 of Pakistan
Telecommunication (R-Organization) Act 1996, Section 36/37 of ETO 2002
and Section 25 C of Telegraph Act, 1885. It is therefore requested the
necessary investigation be carried out in the greater interest of
service and save Govt. from further loss of revenue. The cop of
complaint received from PTCL alongwith submitted record mentioned
above is attached for ready reference. The team of PTA and PTCL will
be available for any assistance required by FIA round the clock.
> > As per Sensitivity of the case and a risk for leakage of
information which could alert the accused and early action will be
highly appreciated S/d—Sajjad Latif Awan, Zonal Director
(Enforcement), Rawalpindi. ACTION BY FIA: From the contents of
complaint reproduced above. Prima-facie offences under section 31 TRA,
1996, 36/36, E.T.O 2002, 25C Telegraph Act, 1885, 34/420 PPC appear to
have been committed. Accordingly a case is registered under the order
of the Competent Authority. Copies of FIR being sent to quarter
concerned. After completing necessary formalities raid will be
conducted in collaboration with PTA/PTCL officers for recovery of
device/apparatus illegally installed/reportedly functioning.
> > ________________________________
> > From: Salman Ansari [mailto:salman@...<mailto:salman@...>]
> > Sent: Wednesday, December 13, 2006 5:19 PM
> > To: amumtaz@...<mailto:amumtaz@...>
> > Cc: wahaj@...<mailto:wahaj@...>; 'Nadeem A. Malik'; 'Imran Akhtar
Shah'; owais.zaidi@...<mailto:owais.zaidi@...>;
abutt@...<mailto:abutt@...>; 'Ansar'; 'Jahan Ara'; 'Yusuf Hussain';
'Member IT (Tariq Badsha)';
Ashraf.Kapadia@...<mailto:Ashraf.Kapadia@...>; 'Jawwad Farid';
danish@...<mailto:danish@...>; ' Saeed@...<mailto:Saeed@...>';
'Muhammad Zia ullah'; danish.q@...<mailto:danish.q@...>; 'Khawaja
Saad'; Omar.Saeed@...<mailto:Omar.Saeed@...>; 'Asad Karim';
ak@...<mailto:ak@...>; members@...<mailto:members@...>;
operators@...<mailto:operators@...>; 'INFO'; 'Ashar Iqbal'; 'Zubair';
mtaheer@...<mailto:mtaheer@...>;
pakistanictpolicy@yahoogroups.com<mailto:pakistanictpolicy@yahoogroups.com>;
pakgrid@yahoogroups.com<mailto:pakgrid@yahoogroups.com>; 'Saad
Ansari'; 'Imran Akhtar Shah'; 'asad karim'; 'Ansar'
> > Subject: Peaceful protest against illegal Raid on Cogilent
Solutions: Convergence - what an irony
> > It is indeed an irony that this very painful episode is causing
'Convergence' of another kind in ICT. For a change, people from the
Telecom sector (all varieties) and the IT sector are coming together
for a common cause. I hope that this unity continues for the
betterment of IT and Telecoms in Pakistan.
> > I hope that sense will prevail and we can bring the suffering to
an end once the PTA can be convinced about the tragedy of this
particular action. Though, I can understand their perspective in
carrying out this 'raid' since they have been chasing ghosts and
tracking down illegal operators (mostly at the behest of PTCL) and it
is important that the professionals convince the Chairman PTA so that
the lower staff whose wrong conclusions have led to this situation, do
not prevail. My fear is that unless this is handled carefully, the
people at Cogilent will suffer, becoming unwitting pawns in the middle.
> > Unfortunately the big fish who have minted millions are scot-free
and never touched. The press release is not correct as this avoids
mentioning the facts and parrots out incorrect data. I hope that the
Chairman PTA will go through the case with a tooth comb.
> > In my personal view it is the PTCL which should be charge sheeted
and brought to justice this time, to ensure that they stop pulling the
ICT industry down just to overcome their own incompetence in being
able to handle their business in a competitive environment. It is they
who filed the complaint in the first place, gave the so called proof
to the PTA and then accompanied the FIA into the Miami Vice type of a
bust of this software house.
> > The issue is also the lack of understanding of the term VoIP by
all concerned (as Ansar mildly put it, difference between 'voice' and
'speech'): PTA, Ministry and worst of all the PTCL. This term has been
tainted by its misuse by everyone concerned for defining illegal call
termination into Pakistan. Perhaps we can have this event bring this
into clarity for the PTA and others that everything today is IP (all
new operators in Pakistan use IP equipment). The same is used by
Skype, MSN, in all voice applications today. There are thousands of
people (like me) in Pakistan who use this and are by the same flawed
judgment, are common criminals.
> > All LDIs, LL, WLL, new cellular and Optical fibre systems
deployments use NGN equipment. Almost all applications being developed
use IP: VoIP, Video over IP, IPTV…these need products to be developed
by our industry. I do not agree with PSEB that the PTA would need to
be asked before someone can do any development in this domain. We just
need to get this issue sorted out once and for all.
> > The charges are so flawed that even the items mentioned in the
charges (see PSEB note) are perhaps just to influence the judge and
show this to be a heinous crime. The Telegraph Act of 1885 was
superseded by the Telecom act of 1996 (in this context), the mention
of the clauses of the Electronic Transaction Ordinance have no
relevance to the issue at all. Was the mention of the Pakistan Penal
Code necessary so that there is some reason to hold the person without
correct charges? Were all these items mentioned, as the Police throws
in the kitchen sink in FIRs, to be able to drag the people through a mess?
> > I would like the Chairman PTA to please ask for explanation from
his staff on this issue. This is also perhaps one of the reasons why
most of the really guilty people prosecuted for illegal traffic, get away?
> > Almost 90% of all international calls that come in via ALL
operators including PTCL, do not show these with international number
prefixes: either the + or the 00 is dropped, so that they can avoid
the APC to the LL operators or paying the PTA for the USF. I wonder
how many of these have been charged or convicted? These have been the
biggest 'terminators' of the so-called illegal traffic. The PTCL
itself broke the PTA law by cheating and selling rates into Pakistan
at less then 5 cents when the rate set by the PTA was over 10 cents.
Was the PTCL fined or penalized for this 'theft' and flouting the PTA
and Government Policy?
> > This is where the millions of dollars have been siphoned off not
by people like Cogilent.
> > After the excellent decision by the PTA to reduce the accounting
rate to 2.5 cents the only people who can make money are the 'legal'
operators not the pirates. Just do the numbers. Perhaps the focus of
the team should now finally shift to the real gold mine.
> > I would also request the Chairman PTA to review the press release
with the facts on the ground see the mass of e-mails of the people in
the industry and data about what the raiding party actually got hold
of and how they interpreted it. Just start from the simple fact that:
> > 1. There were 4 telephone lines and PTCL should be asked to
present detailed bills for the millions of rupees worth of damages caused.
> > 2. There was NO voice gateway as the pirates use
> > 3. The website of Cogilent shows what they do – develop voice
products using IP technology – so the asterix switch and the internal
CDRs (no relation with actual call CDRs - I hope the PTA/FIA people
know how to interpret these).
> > 4. A squid based server and a few PCs
> > 5. No humongous GSM gateways.
> > 6. The GSM SIMs all have detailed records from the relevant
operators and can show how many calls were made
> > The point I am making is how carelessly a company's reputation can
be damaged by the action and its follow up.
> > So first things first, we need to convince the PTA with details
to be able to understand the issue which is not a simple error in
judgment and can be brushed aside. Since handing this over to the
gestapo like tactics of the law enforcers, to coerce some sort of a
confession, will irreparably damage this nascent industry and the
credibility of the PTA itself.
> > While we may (Inshallah) be able to get to the end of this
miserable episode by convincing the PTA and the Government of the
error and damage caused, we need to constructively engage the PTA and
the MoIT, to make sure that this does not happen again, especially
under the pressure of the PTCL.
> > Please pardon me for the long mail but I feel very passionately
about the issue and the unfairness of it all.
> > Regards
> > Salman
> > ________________________________
> > From: Muhammad Tahir [mailto: mtaheer@...<mailto:mtaheer@...>]
> > Sent: Tuesday, December 12, 2006 4:43 PM
> > To: amumtaz@...<mailto:amumtaz@...>
> > Cc: wahaj@...<mailto:wahaj@...>; Nadeem A. Malik; Imran Akhtar
Shah; owais.zaidi@...<mailto:owais.zaidi@...>;
abutt@...<mailto:abutt@...>; Salman Ansari; Ansar; Jahan Ara; Yusuf
Hussain; Member IT (Tariq Badsha); Ashraf.Kapadia@...
<mailto:Ashraf.Kapadia@...> ; Jawwad Farid;
danish@...<mailto:danish@...>; Saeed@...<mailto:Saeed@...>; Muhammad
Zia ullah; danish.q@...<mailto:danish.q@...>; Khawaja Saad;
Omar.Saeed@...<mailto:Omar.Saeed@...>; Asad Karim;
ak@...<mailto:ak@...>; members@...<mailto:members@...>;
operators@...<mailto:operators@...>; INFO; Ashar Iqbal; Zubair
> > Subject: [Norton AntiSpam] Peacefull protest against illegal Raid
on Cogilent Solutions.
> > Dear all,
> > Faisal is still in jail on 8th day of his arrest. We tried many
corners but no one seems to be listening and acting in the way they
should have been. This is now clearly established that Cogilent didn't
do any illegal job and whatever they've been doing, was perfectly
covered under the laws of Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
> > In order to highlight the issue before press and IT community,
friends of Faisal, Jawad, Cogilent and IT/CS professionals of twin
cities would be arranging a peaceful and graceful protest in front of
Software Technology Park-II, Evacuee Trust Complex, Aga Khan Road,
Next to Marriot Hotel, on Wednesday, 13 December 2006 at 1:30 pm sharp.
> > This would be an activity for half an hour to express solidarity
with Faisal/Cogilent, to demand immediate release of Faisal, with
drawl of the illegal and fake case and punishment for those who have
taken this colonial and barbaric step. Faisal's old bed ridden mother
is grief-sicken, Jawad (accused CTO, still 'at large' in FIA files)
with his young daughter who was detected with brain tumor few days
ago, is running from pillar to post. Cogilent is practically shut down
with FIA teams going there every day and harassing them with dire
consequences. The whole team of young CS guys is in miserable shape
and need your help. They're suffering due to high headedness of
government officials, but no one is trying to heal their wounds.
> > Please join all for this protest in front of Software Technology
Park-II, Evacuee Trust Complex, Aga Khan Road, Next to Marriot Hotel,
on Wednesday, 13 December 2006 at 1:30 pm sharp. Please do bring the
play cards with you condemning the act and highlighting the need of
justice.
> > Tahir
> > Project Manager
> > Cogilent Solutions
> > 051- 2871173
> > On 12/12/06, Wahaj us Siraj <wahaj@...<mailto:wahaj@...>> wrote:
> > Dear all,
> > Enclosed is the PTA's Determination on PC to Phone services being
legal effective 01 Jan 03. This was the case fought by ISPAK in PTA
for a long time.
> > Here's the letter that we sent to Chairman PTA yesterday. Nothing
moved yet in the power corridors and poor Faisal is still in jail on 8
th day of illegal custody.
> > Kind regards…Wahaj
> > Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan
> > (ISPAK)
> > 11 December 2006
> > Maj. Gen. (R) Shahzada Alam Malik
> > Chairman
> > Pakistan Telecommunication Authority
> > Islamabad
> > Subject: Raid on M/s Cogilent Solutions, Islamabad for Alleged
> > VOIP Termination
> > Dear Sir,
> > We would like to draw your kind attention to the raid
conducted by PTA/ FIA on Islamabad based software company, M/s
Cogilent Solutions and arrest of its CEO, Mr. Faisal Chohan on 05
December 06. ISPAK has thoroughly investigated the case and concluded
that the company was not involved in any illegal voice
termination/origination service based on the following facts:
> > i. Cogilent had only 4 PSTN lines (3 phones and one fax)
from PTCL and their monthly bills of last one year don't indicate any
calls other than their normal office use.
> > ii. Raiding team couldn't find any GSM gateway/s or SIMs
in Cogilent's office premises.
> > iii. There is no evidence of A or B Tel numbers from the
logs servers confiscated by the raiding team.
> > iv. Record of Cogilent's DSL connection from its DSL
service provider doesn't indicate any abnormal use or pattern typical
of regular or commercial VOIP activity. They've utilized on average of
10 Gbyte of data per month (upload + download) which is very normal
for regular Internet use only.
> > v. Cogilent however did make few (not exceeding 20) PC to
phone overseas calls every month using Internet but these calls are
perfectly legal as per PTA's Determination of December 2002.
> > 2. We'd request for an urgent meeting with you and your team
to present the evidence and explain joint industry's point of view in
detail on innocence of M/s Cogilent so that this case is settled and
ordeal of Mr. Faisal Chohan could be ended without further suffering.
> > 3. Needless to say that whole IT industry of the country
including ISPs, Call Centers and Software Houses are very perturbed
over this incident and want to see a quick end to the suffering of the
company employees and with drawl of the case.
> > With kind regards.
> > Yours truly,
> > Wahaj us Siraj
> > Convener
> > ________________________________
> > From: Nadeem A. Malik [mailto: namalik@...<mailto:namalik@...>]
> > Sent: Tuesday, December 12, 2006 11:57 AM
> > To: Imran Akhtar Shah; wahaj@...<mailto:wahaj@...>;
owais.zaidi@...<mailto:owais.zaidi@...>; abutt@...<mailto:abutt@...>;
'Salman Ansari'; 'Ansar'; Jahan Ara; Yusuf Hussain; 'Member IT (Tariq
Badsha)'; Ashraf.Kapadia@... <mailto:Ashraf.Kapadia@...>
> > Cc: 'Jawwad Farid'; danish@...<mailto:danish@...>; '
Saeed@...<mailto:Saeed@...>'; 'Muhammad Zia ullah';
danish.q@...<mailto:danish.q@...>; 'Khawaja Saad';
Omar.Saeed@...<mailto:Omar.Saeed@...>; 'Asad Karim';
ak@...<mailto:ak@...>; members@...<mailto:members@...>;
operators@...<mailto:operators@...>; 'Atif Mumtaz'
> > Subject: Re: PTA/FIA Raids an Islamabad Software Company and Puts
CEO behind bars......
> > Technology has a shelf life of a banana then how could you
regulate it? Who make all these rules and decide when to use them. For
answer " Everyone has right to University Degree, even its in
Hamburger Technology".
> > IT business profoundly depend on science and technology (news for
many :). At many Govt agencies almost no one understands technology
and its dynamics. This is a prescription for disaster. This
combustible mixture of ignorance and power has blow up in our faces in
this case.
> > PSEB did miss the point. The greatest task for PSEB is to make
this country destination of choice for IT business by making Govt
agencies aware of IT business dynamics and create conducive business
environment. The following is from PSEB web site:
> > "
> > * Act as a bridge between the private IT companies and the
various government bodies
> > * Study the laws, regulations and strategies of various
competitor countries and explore new markets for the Pakistan IT industry
> > "
> > Action like these won't help to achieve these goals.
> > Best Regards
> > Nadeem A. Malik
> > On 12/12/06 10:49 AM, "Imran Akhtar Shah" <
imran@...<mailto:imran@...>> wrote:
> > PSEB,
> > Please learn from the mistakes till date you guys have done.
Instead of a booming Software Industry and outsource business (Call
Centers) , where Pakistan is today…you all should reflect back and
correct your approach.
> > ISPAK is proud to be the torch bearer of ISP & Telecom industry in
Pakistan, this is the time you guys go to basics and read the charter
of PSEB for Heaven Sake!
> > Regards,
> > Imran Akhtar Shah
> > ________________________________
> > From: Wahaj us Siraj [mailto:wahaj@...]
> > Sent: Monday, December 11, 2006 8:47 PM
> > To: wahaj@...<mailto:wahaj@...>;
owais.zaidi@...<mailto:owais.zaidi@...>; 'Nadeem A. Malik';
abutt@...<mailto:abutt@...>; 'Salman Ansari'; 'Ansar'; 'Jahan Ara';
'Yusuf Hussain'; 'Member IT (Tariq Badsha)'; Ashraf.Kapadia@...
<mailto:Ashraf.Kapadia@...>
> > Cc: 'Jawwad Farid'; danish@...<mailto:danish@...>; '
Saeed@...<mailto:Saeed@...>'; 'Muhammad Zia ullah';
danish.q@...<mailto:danish.q@...>; 'Khawaja Saad';
Omar.Saeed@...<mailto:Omar.Saeed@...>; 'Asad Karim';
ak@...<mailto:ak@...>; members@...<mailto:members@...>;
operators@...<mailto:operators@...>; 'Atif Mumtaz'
> > Subject: RE: PTA/FIA Raids an Islamabad Software Company and Puts
CEO behind bars......
> > PSEB,
> > Instead of supporting the cause and stand up against aggression,
you're intimidating your own members. Cogilent did nothing illegal.
The authorities acted in illegal way. PTA itself has permitted PC to
Phone VOIP calls in December 02.
> > Kind regards…Wahaj
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Salman Ansari [mailto:salman@...]
> > Sent: Monday, December 11, 2006 12:08 PM
> > To: 'news@...<mailto:news@...>'
> > Subject: RE: ILLEGAL USE OF VOICE OVER INTERNET PROTOCOL (VOIP)
TECHNOLOGY__
> > What an irony...
> > PSEB, you seem to be missing the point completely.
> > Salman
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: PSEB [ mailto:news@...]
> > Sent: Monday, December 11, 2006 11:54 AM
> > Subject: ILLEGAL USE OF VOICE OVER INTERNET PROTOCOL (VOIP)
TECHNOLOGY__ __ILLEGAL USE OF VOICE OVER INTERNET PROTOCOL (VOIP) TE
> > ____
> > __ILLEGAL USE OF VOICE OVER INTERNET PROTOCOL (VOIP) TECHNOLOGY__
> > The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and Federal
Investigation Agency (FIA) are taking a serious view of any violation
of the Pakistan Telecommunication (Re-organization) Act 1996 and in
particular non-authorized use of the Internet for Voice Traffic
(VOIP). Recently PTA & FIA conducted a raid on an Islamabad based
software development company and arrested its CEO for alleged illegal
termination of calls (illegal use of VOIP). The company was accused of
committing offences under section 31 of the Pakistan Telecommunication
(Re-organization) Act 1996, section 36/37 of Electronic Transaction
Ordinance 2002, section 25 C of Telegraphic Act 1885 and sections
34/420 of Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).
> > Pakistan Software Export Board urges all of its member companies
to comply with the legal undertaking provided when signing up for
Internet Service Provision as well as all rules, regulations and
conditions prescribed in relevant laws which can be accessed at the
following URLs:
> > 1. Pakistan Telecommunication (Re-organization) Act 1996 at
> > www.pta.gov.pk<http://www.pta.gov.pk/> <
www.pta.gov.pk<http://www.pta.gov.pk/>>
> > 2. Electronic Transaction Ordinance 2002 at
> >
www.pakistan.gov.pk/divisions/itandtelecom-division/media/eto2002.pdf
<http://www.pakistan.gov.pk/divisions/itandtelecom-division/media/eto2002.pdf>
<
www.pakistan.gov.pk/divisions/itandtelecom-division/media/eto2002.pdf<http://www.pakistan.gov.pk/divisions/itandtelecom-division/media/eto2002.pdf>>
> > Unless you are a call center registered with the PSEB, you should
not be using the Internet for Voice Traffic. In addition, you must
comply with all rules, regulations and conditions of operation as a
call center. The detailed procedure for facilitation of Domestic and
International Call
> > Centers can be downloaded from the website of PTCL at
> >
www.ptcl.com.pk/tariff/call_centres/download/call_center_policy.doc
<http://www.ptcl.com.pk/tariff/call_centres/download/call_center_policy.doc>
> > Kindly note that if you are a developer of VoIP products, who
generates minimal voice traffic over the Internet for product testing
purposes only, then you are advised to please contact PTA for
clarification and special permission with full justification of the
case with a copy to PSEB at info@...<mailto:info@...>.
> > Note that illegal generation of VoIP traffic can lead to arrest,
imprisonment, and/or fines under the applicable rules and regulations
stated above.
> > Sajid Iqbal
> > Manager Domestic Business
> > Pakistan Software Export Board
> > 2nd Floor, Evacuee Trust Complex
> > F-5, Agha Khan Road, Islamabad-Pakistan
> > Ph: +92-51-9220812
> > ________________________________
> > From: Wahaj us Siraj [mailto:wahaj@...]
> > Sent: Monday, December 11, 2006 6:14 PM
> > To: 'owais.zaidi@...<mailto:owais.zaidi@...>'; 'Nadeem A. Malik';
' abutt@...<mailto:abutt@...>'; 'Salman Ansari'; 'Ansar'; 'Jahan Ara';
'Yusuf Hussain'; 'Member IT (Tariq Badsha)'; ' Ashraf.Kapadia@...
<mailto:Ashraf.Kapadia@...> '
> > Cc: 'Jawwad Farid'; ' danish@...<mailto:danish@...>'; '
Saeed@...<mailto:Saeed@...>'; 'Muhammad Zia ullah';
'danish.q@...<mailto:danish.q@...>'; 'Khawaja Saad'; '
Omar.Saeed@...<mailto:Omar.Saeed@...>'; 'Asad Karim';
'ak@...<mailto:ak@...>'; ' members@...<mailto:members@...>';
'operators@...<mailto:operators@...>'; 'Atif Mumtaz'
> > Subject: RE: PTA/FIA Raids an Islamabad Software Company and Puts
CEO behind bars......
> > ________________________________
> > From: Owais Zaidi [mailto:owais.zaidi@...]
> > Sent: Saturday, December 09, 2006 3:31 PM
> > To: 'Nadeem A. Malik'; abutt@...<mailto:abutt@...>;
wahaj@...<mailto:wahaj@...>; 'Salman Ansari'; 'Ansar'; 'Jahan Ara';
'Yusuf Hussain'; 'Member IT (Tariq Badsha)'; Ashraf.Kapadia@...
<mailto:Ashraf.Kapadia@...>
> > Cc: 'Jawwad Farid'; danish@...<mailto:danish@...>; '
Saeed@...<mailto:Saeed@...>'; 'Muhammad Zia ullah';
danish.q@...<mailto:danish.q@...>; 'Khawaja Saad'
> > Subject: RE: PTA/FIA Raids an Islamabad Software Company and Puts
CEO behind bars......
> > As Pasha General Secretary, I will appreciate if someone from
Cogilent provides a schematic for their setup with components clearly
identified. I have talked to our corporate lawyer and he has asked for
this diagram.
> > Regards,
> > Owais Zaidi
> >
[http://by124w.bay124.mail.live.com/mail/SafeRedirect.aspx?hm__tg=http://207.46.11.249/att/GetAttachment.aspx&hm__qs=file%3d7e4b5a59-dba1-453c-9c81-f3f93f3ec624.jpg%26ct%3dimage%252fjpeg%26name%3dimage001.jpg%26inline%3d1%26rfc%3d0%26empty%3dFalse&oneredir=1&ip=10.1.106.222&d=d1968&mf=0]
> > Coporate Office
> > phone: +92 21 455 4016
> > cell: +92 301 823 1188
> > C 30, Mohd Ali Housing Society
> > Karachi 75400, Pakistan
> > EBusiness Ops Center
> > phone: +92 21 565 6293
> > 601, STSM Foundation Building
> > Beaumont Road, Civil Lines
> > Karachi 75530
> > www.access.net.pk<http://www.access.net.pk/>
> > DISCLAIMER: This e-mail contains proprietary information some of
which may be legally privileged. It is for the intended recipient
only. If an addressing or transmission error has misdirected this
e-mail, please notify the author by replying to it. If you are not the
intended recipient you may not use, disclose, distribute, copy, print
or rely on this e-mail.
> > ________________________________
> > From: Nadeem A. Malik [mailto:namalik@...]
> > Sent: Saturday, December 09, 2006 11:26 AM
> > To: abutt@...<mailto:abutt@...>; wahaj@...<mailto:wahaj@...>;
'Salman Ansari'; 'Ansar'; Jahan Ara; Yusuf Hussain; 'Member IT (Tariq
Badsha)'; Ashraf.Kapadia@... <mailto:Ashraf.Kapadia@...>
> > Cc: 'Owais Zaidi'; 'Jawwad Farid'; danish@...<mailto:danish@...>;
' Saeed@...<mailto:Saeed@...>'; 'Muhammad Zia ullah';
danish.q@...<mailto:danish.q@...>; 'Khawaja Saad'
> > Subject: Re: PTA/FIA Raids an Islamabad Software Company and Puts
CEO behind bars......
> > It is an unfortunate incident and have shown what kind of respect
PTCL has for our industry. Making Public Monopoly into private
monopoly was bad a call and was told to decision makers. Now we are
experiences the greatest privatization's results , LDI and LL
operators are scaling back their operations, Call Centers, BPO, SW
Houses are feeling the pinch due to PTCL's resistance to reduce the
bandwidth charges and its least concern regarding the quality of services.
> > Now, adding insult to injury, PTCL/PTA/FIA acted in old colonial
day manner, "Guilty until proven innocent". PTCL and PTA claim to have
records to prove their claim but that still does not justify the
action. This should be just a dispute between two parties not fight
where one with bigger stick wins.
> > During the meeting with Chairman PTA and other officials on Oct
30, 2006, among other issues PASHA raised the similar fears i.e that
our companies are reluctant to take projects which requires IP based
voice setups since currently there is no frame work exists with PTA.
Further, it was told that any wrong action on either party can put our
industry in awkward position and may jeopardize its growth. Chairman
PTA assured us that they will evaluate and develop framework to cover
such aspects.
> > We must exert our joint efforts to resolve this and develop
framework for future. Wahaj, let's call a joint meeting of ISPAK,
PASHA and other stakeholders ASAP and take up this with MoIT and PTA.
> > Best Regards
> > Nadeem A. Malik
> > On 12/9/06 7:18 AM, "abutt@...<mailto:abutt@...>" <
abutt@...<mailto:abutt@...>> wrote:
> > Dear Colleagues ! This infact is act that cannot be left with out
making the concerns realize that they have done a wrong thing, About
two years back PTCL did the same thing in Karachi when they raided
SUPER PHONE facility at Gerry's office, near Hotel Metropole, Super
Phone management acted fast and with support from industry,
immediately Minister of IT Mr Leghari was contacted same evening,
Nice of Minister sahib who called up Chief Minister Sind, prompt
action was taken the concerned police officials were suspended, but
nothing was done of PTCL folks who instigated this raid.
> > I agree with Wahaj that this has to be taken to the highest
authority, in this context ACCO stands by all of you, with all our
media contacts, we are already discussing with our members the next
course of action that will include but not limited to bringing the
PTCL management on air along with PTA, by getting our associated TV
channels to go after them and bring them in a debate with the Industry
players and make them answer the questions. Also to send press
releases to all news papers. Then seek PSEB to get all of the stake
holders get appointment with IT minister, so proper report can be
presented along with PTCL officials.
> > We also with Salman shab, that it looks like no body in PTCL seems
to be bothered about ITES sector and its growth, and the new
management are trying to run this company as a monopoly.
> > On 8th at CONNECT IT call center session, I have already spoken on
this in public during ACCO presentation, and had discussion with Sind
IT Advisor, Mr Nauman Saigol also.
> > Regards
> > Abdullah Butt
> > ACCO
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Wahaj us Siraj [mailto:wahaj@...]
<mailto:wahaj@...%5d><mailto:wahaj@...]>
> > Sent: Friday, December 08, 2006 1:17 PM
> > To: 'Salman Ansari'; 'Ansar'; 'Jehan Ara';
abutt@...<mailto:abutt@...>; md@...<mailto:md@...>; 'Member IT (Tariq
Badsha)'; Ashraf.Kapadia@...<mailto:Ashraf.Kapadia@...>
> > Cc: Ashraf.Kapadia@...<mailto:Ashraf.Kapadia@...>; 'Nadeem A.
Malik'; 'Owais Zaidi'; 'Jawwad Farid'; danish@...<mailto:danish@...>;
' Saeed@...<mailto:Saeed@...>'; 'Muhammad Zia ullah';
danish.q@...<mailto:danish.q@...>; 'Khawaja Saad'
> > Subject: RE: PTA/FIA Raids an Islamabad Software Company and Puts
CEO behind bars......
> > Salman bhai,
> > Infact, Yusuf has been supporting this case since it was brought
to his knowledge. He has gone many extra miles to support this case
which no bureaucrat would have done. He even arranged lawyer for the
Faisal's first court appearance on Wednesday and we really appreciate
this. Such steps were never taken by any of his predecessors.
> > PASHA should take a tough stand on this as this happened with a
software company. Industry forums need to be more vocal and strong.
Otherwise, it's doomed to happen with anyone else tomorrow.
> > Kind regards…Wahaj
> > ________________________________
> > From: Salman Ansari [mailto:salman@...]
<mailto:salman@...%5d><mailto:salman@...]>
> > Sent: Friday, December 08, 2006 12:33 PM
> > To: wahaj@...<mailto:wahaj@...>; 'Ansar'; 'Jehan Ara';
abutt@...<mailto:abutt@...>; md@...<mailto:md@...>; 'Member IT ( Tariq
Badsha)'; Ashraf.Kapadia@...<mailto:Ashraf.Kapadia@...>
> > Cc: Ashraf.Kapadia@...<mailto:Ashraf.Kapadia@...>; 'Nadeem A.
Malik'; 'Owais Zaidi'; 'Jawwad Farid'; danish@...<mailto:danish@...>;
' Saeed@...<mailto:Saeed@...>'; 'Muhammad Zia ullah';
danish.q@...<mailto:danish.q@...>; 'Khawaja Saad'
> > Subject: PTA/FIA Raids an Islamabad Software Company and Puts CEO
behind bars......
> > Dear Yusuf
> > This is perhaps your first really big challenge. If the PM can get
ecstatic about the billions of dollars worth of SW export out of
Pakistan, I am sure he should be very concerned about this major
fiasco. Please do not let this issue die without this company getting
a big public apology and financial compensation – perhaps some good
use of the billions in the R&D fund.
> > I really wonder if the PSEB and MoIT will move in this or will
this be another passive, business as usual case. After the silly
taxing of computers and IT equipment, with no redress from the MoIT,
the government should just give up this sector and forget about the
plans that you have crafted so well and are training people and
creating resources like Tech parks and those of the HEC is assiduously
creating PhDs for stimulating a knowledge economy.
> > When will we get over the Stalinist attitude on VoIP? After the
reduction of APC to 2.5 cents thereby reducing the motivation of PTCL
no longer circumventing the PTA rules (which everyone else has to
follow) and terminating millions of minutes via their own Huawei
switch in Lahore, the issue of the pot calling the kettle black has to
stop and these meaningless raids have to stop. Specially ones like these.
> > It appears that we have sold our spirit, ethics and souls along
with the 26%.
> > Salman
> > ________________________________
> > From: Wahaj us Siraj [ mailto:wahaj@...]
<mailto:wahaj@...%5d><mailto:wahaj@...]>
> > Sent: Friday, December 08, 2006 11:30 AM
> > To: wahaj@...<mailto:wahaj@...> ; 'Ansar'; 'Jehan Ara';
abutt@...<mailto:abutt@...>
> > Cc: Ashraf.Kapadia@...<mailto:Ashraf.Kapadia@...>; 'Nadeem A.
Malik'; 'Owais Zaidi'; 'Jawwad Farid'; danish@...<mailto:danish@...>;
' Saeed@...<mailto:Saeed@...>'; 'Muhammad Zia ullah';
danish.q@...<mailto:danish.q@...>; 'Khawaja Saad'; 'Salman Ansari'
> > Subject: RE: PTA/FIA Raids an Islamabad Software Company and Puts
CEO behind bars......
> > Ansar,
> > I know these guys. They're just young CS/IT professionals. Atif,
their founder is doing a fellowship in Stanford. Their DSL link was
through us and this was a 512 k/12 Gb connection, mostly under
utilized – not suitable at all to do VOIP terminations. They might
have been doing some interoffice (Islamabad-CA) communication through
IP, PC to PC, etc., but this is not 'illegal' and PTA's Determination
also exist on this. So VIOP packets might have been flowing on their
link but that is common on every broadband connection today. Even
PTCL/PTA highups have IP phones at their homes.
> > Termination of international calls through VOIP requires either
connectivity with PSTN or GSM gateway. Cogilent's office had only 4
phone lines from PTCL including one fax. No commercial termination of
calls can take place on these four lines. PTCL would also have record
of these outgoing calls and they can easily find out whether CLIs of
these calls were recorded/displayed at any numbers while terminating
international calls.
> > No GSM gateway was found in Cogilent's office as well. So no
GSM/PSTN connectivity is established with VOIP. All previous raids of
PTA have found PSTN/GSM gateways connected with IP but Cogilent had
nothing of this sort. Even a small call termination setup required to
terminate few thousands of minutes per month requires min of 20 PSTN
or GSM lines connected to a gateway.
> > Cogilent was using an Asterisk server (Linux running SIP and other
VOIP protocols) as office PABX which many office do around the globe.
Even we use the same setup for our inter-office communication.
> > PTA has been silent on famous illegal call terminations of
hundreds of millions minutes by NTC for more that two years, despite
the hue and cry in media. They couldn't dare raid NTC premises and
arrest men in khakis.
> > PTCL has been doing the same and still doing today, brining 40-50
million minutes of underhand grey traffic every month. PTA knows this.
We've publicly pointed this out in a large meeting of PTA, PTCL and
industry and this was recorded in minutes of the meeting by PTA. But
PTA didn't dare raid ITMC, RWP, confiscate switch and arrest the
officers and SEVPs there.
> > Large Cellular operators are doing same but no action taken.
> > This is worst case of abuse of public powers against small and
fragile companies. Most sad part of this is that PTA has done so on
the request and complaint of PTCL and conducted a joint raid. No law
or constitution allows, PTCL, a private operator, to be a part of such
effort.
> > We must invoke media and legal proceedings. PASHA and Call Centers
should also raise voice with full force. We're written to Minister for
IT for an urgent meeting and waiting for a response. If nothing comes
up, young fellows in IT companies and call centers here are gearing up
to do a demonstration in front of the Ministry of IT next week.
> > We're discussing with lawyers here. Cogilent had no backing and
poor guys are running here and there, their families screaming. First
priority is to get Faisal bailed out of the jail and then a counter
case for abuse of public powers most probably through a Writ Petition
in the High Court.
> > Kind regards…Wahaj
> > ________________________________
> > From: Ansar [ mailto:ansar@...]
<mailto:ansar@...%5d><mailto:ansar@...]>
> > Sent: Friday, December 08, 2006 10:32 AM
> > To: wahaj@...<mailto:wahaj@...>; 'Jehan Ara';
abutt@...<mailto:abutt@...>
> > Subject: RE: PTA/FIA Raids an Islamabad Software Company and Puts
CEO behind bars......
> > I think this time a joint concerted effort is required to try to
bring the PTA/PTCL etc. out of stone ages. A case should be filed and
heavy compensation should be demanded from the culprits for them to
refrain from such damaging acts if we feel Cogilent Solutions is not
guilty. Let me know your thoughts on this. Media can be invoked for
clarification besides legal proceedings. I am ready to pay my share
for such cause.
> > Rgds/Ansar
> > ________________________________
> > From: Wahaj us Siraj [ mailto:wahaj@...]
<mailto:wahaj@...%5d><mailto:wahaj@...]>
> > Sent: Thursday, December 07, 2006 12:12 PM
> > To: wahaj@...<mailto:wahaj@...> ; 'Amer Shafique'; 'Luqman Kamil';
operators@...<mailto:operators@...>; akarim@...<mailto:akarim@...>;
ajmal.ansari@...<mailto:ajmal.ansari@...>;
shahid.bhutto@...<mailto:shahid.bhutto@...>;
mukhtar@...<mailto:mukhtar@...>; asad@...<mailto:asad@...>;
yousaf@...<mailto:yousaf@...>; reneec@...<mailto:reneec@...>;
peter.yeow@...<mailto:peter.yeow@...>; 'Maj Gen (Rtd.) Faisal Alavi';
'Wajahat'; george.hashim@...<mailto:george.hashim@...>; 'Jamshed
Masood'; 'Muhammad Ali Qazi'; Kashif@...<mailto:Kashif@...>; 'Shahid
Firoz'; 'Shahid Naeem Butt'; 'BRIG SALEEM'; 'Azmat Ali';
asif.rumi@...<mailto:asif.rumi@...>; 'Adnan Asdar'; 'Kamil Khan';
rs@...<mailto:rs@...>; 'Amjad Farooq Alvi'; bas@...<mailto:bas@...>;
sq@...<mailto:sq@...>; affan.khan@...<mailto:affan.khan@...>;
st@...<mailto:st@...>; members@...<mailto:members@...>;
operators@...<mailto:operators@...>; Usman . ; 'Dr. Irfan zafar';
ak@...<mailto:ak@...>; 'Yusuf Hussain'; 'Salman Ansari'; 'Talib
Baloch'; arana@...<mailto:arana@...>; akazi@...<mailto:akazi@...>;
owais.khan@...<mailto:owais.khan@...>;
umar.usmani@...<mailto:umar.usmani@...>;
tanveer@...<mailto:tanveer@...>; mshahid@...<mailto:mshahid@...>;
hamid@...<mailto:hamid@...>; nasir@...<mailto:nasir@...>;
wali@...<mailto:wali@...>; sazim@...<mailto:sazim@...>;
ateeq@...<mailto:ateeq@...>; nasser.lone@...<mailto:nasser.lone@...>;
muneer.farooqui@...<mailto:muneer.farooqui@...>;
jhumra@...<mailto:jhumra@...>; asim.saber@...<mailto:asim.saber@...>;
masood@...<mailto:masood@...>; mziaee@...<mailto:mziaee@...>;
maniya@...<mailto:maniya@...>; abutt@...<mailto:abutt@...>;
dyl@...<mailto:dyl@...>; fendi@...<mailto:fendi@...>;
naved@...<mailto:naved@...>; irfanfarooq@...<mailto:irfanfarooq@...>;
farook@...<mailto:farook@...>; farooq@...<mailto:farooq@...>;
farrukh@...<mailto:farrukh@...>;
farrkuhjunaidy@...<mailto:farrkuhjunaidy@...>;
wmalik@...<mailto:wmalik@...>;
adnan.husain@...<mailto:adnan.husain@...>;
adnantahir@...<mailto:adnantahir@...>; 'Ansar'; ak@...<mailto:ak@...>;
operators@...<mailto:operators@...>; 'Awais Leghari'; 'Noor-ud-Din
Baqai MMember Telecom''; 'Farrakh Qayyum';
khakwan@...<mailto:khakwan@...>; faslam@...<mailto:faslam@...>;
'Rashid Khan'; 'Director Telecom, Mushtaq Ahmed Bhatti';
rehan@...<mailto:rehan@...>
> > Subject: RE: PTA/FIA Raids an Islamabad Software Company and Puts
CEO behind bars......
> > ________________________________
> > From: Wahaj us Siraj [ mailto:wahaj@...]
<mailto:wahaj@...%5d><mailto:wahaj@...]>
> > Sent: Wednesday, December 06, 2006 4:37 PM
> > To: 'Amer Shafique'; 'Luqman Kamil';
operators@...<mailto:operators@...>; akarim@...<mailto:akarim@...>;
ajmal.ansari@...<mailto:ajmal.ansari@...>;
shahid.bhutto@...<mailto:shahid.bhutto@...>;
mukhtar@...<mailto:mukhtar@...>; asad@...<mailto:asad@...>;
yousaf@...<mailto:yousaf@...>; reneec@...<mailto:reneec@...>;
peter.yeow@...<mailto:peter.yeow@...>; 'Maj Gen (Rtd.) Faisal Alavi';
'Wajahat'; george.hashim@...<mailto:george.hashim@...>; 'Jamshed
Masood'; 'Muhammad Ali Qazi'; Kashif@...<mailto:Kashif@...>; 'Shahid
Firoz'; 'Shahid Naeem Butt'; 'BRIG SALEEM'; 'Azmat Ali';
asif.rumi@...<mailto:asif.rumi@...>; 'Adnan Asdar'; 'Kamil Khan';
rs@...<mailto:rs@...>; 'Amjad Farooq Alvi'; bas@...<mailto:bas@...>;
sq@...<mailto:sq@...>; affan.khan@...<mailto:affan.khan@...>;
st@...<mailto:st@...>; operations@...<mailto:operations@...>;
members@...<mailto:members@...>
> > Subject: PTA/FIA Raids an Islamabad Software Company and Puts CEO
behind bars......
> > On a complaint filed by PTCL, PTA swiftly acts and arrests CEO of
a software company located in Software Technology Park, Islamabad on
alleged VOIP call termination. Here's the other part of story.
> > Kind regards…Wahaj
> > ________________________________
> > From: mumtaz.atif@... <mailto:mumtaz.atif@...> [
mailto:mumtaz.atif@...]
<mailto:mumtaz.atif@...%5d><mailto:mumtaz.atif@...]> On Behalf Of Atif
Mumtaz
> > Sent: Tuesday, December 05, 2006 8:45 PM
> > To: jehan@...<mailto:jehan@...>
> > Cc: wahaj@...<mailto:wahaj@...>; aamatin@...<mailto:aamatin@...>;
md@...<mailto:md@...>; Ahmad Jawad
> > Subject: Request Assistance from PASHA
> > Asalam Alekum,
> > I wanted to share a recent harrowing experience that my company is
going through in Pakistan. First a bit of a background.
> > I co-founded an internet Startup company, called Cogilent
Solutions ( www.cogilent.com<http://www.cogilent.com/>
<http://www.cogilent.com/><http://www.cogilent.com/> ), in Islamabad,
which runs a very successful job portal in the country called
BrightSpyre ( www.BrightSpyre.com<http://www.brightspyre.com/>
<http://www.brightspyre.com/><http://www.brightspyre.com/> ). Among
our innovations, we were one of the first companies in the world to
launch an integrated Voice Resume system based on VoIP technologies.
And our solution is being used by companies like TRG and others to
hire quality talent for their call centers in Pakistan.
> > ...
> > [Message clipped]
>
> __________________________________________________________
> Search from any Web page with powerful protection. Get the FREE
Windows Live Toolbar Today!
> http://get.live.com/toolbar/overview
>

Dear Mosharraf,

Some excellent analysis. Very important points and useful guidelines as how
to spread the message in masses.

However, with what we have learned from various sources and now from Yusuf
sab, MD PSEB also, that Minister, Secretary IT and PTA General himself want
to help this situation but nothing doing... Ordeal goes on!

Atif's blog "wheelofjustice" on blogspot which though is banned here, has
most of the personal information about Faisal and company. I shared the
bypassing PTCL procedure to access this blog.

Salman sab, we expect that you, Wahaj sab and Ashraf sab are already working
on a plan of action, as how to engage with policy makers at highest level to
generate support for better policy regime.

Yes, everybody need to keep working until all the objectives are achieved.

Thank you Mosharraf again for your note.

Best wishes

Shahzad


----- Original Message -----
From: "Mosharraf Zaidi" <mosharrafz@...>
To: <pakistanictpolicy@yahoogroups.com>; "'Jawwad Farid'"
<jawwad@...>; <wahaj@...>; "'Shakir Husain'"
<shakir@...>; <pashagroup@yahoogroups.com>
Cc: <amumtaz@...>; "'Nadeem A. Malik'" <namalik@...>;
"'Imran Akhtar Shah'" <imran@...>; <owais.zaidi@...>;
<abutt@...>; "'Ansar'" <ansar@...>; "'Jahan Ara'"
<jehan@...>; <ashraf.kapadia@...>;
<danish@...>; "'Muhammad Zia ullah'"
<muhammad.ziaullah@...>; <danish.q@...>; "'Khawaja Saad'"
<saad@...>; <omar.saeed@...>; "'Asad Karim'"
<akarim@...>; <ak@...>; <members@...>;
<operators@...>; "'INFO'" <info@...>; "'Ashar Iqbal'"
<ashar@...>; "'Zubair'" <zubair@...>;
<mtaheer@...>; <pakgrid@yahoogroups.com>; "'Saad Ansari'"
<saansari@...>; "'asad karim'" <asadkarim@...>;
"'Ahmed Jawad'" <jawad@...>
Sent: Friday, December 15, 2006 12:44 AM
Subject: RE: [pakistanictpolicy] RE: [pashagroup] RE: Peaceful protest
against illegal Raid on Cogilent Solutions: Convergence - what an irony


I agree with Wahaj's approach and I offer the following thoughts.

1) As a policy hack, I have a good grasp of the overarching governance
issues in IT policy--but I am all at sea when it comes
to understanding the specifics. The technical detail that professional
colleagues talk about are Greek to ordinary observors.
Someone needs to break down this information into digestible bites that
laymen can consume.

2) The audience for easily comprehensible descriptions of both the
overarching context of IT and telecom policy and specific
incidents like Cogilent's need to be clear. Community, constituency, client
and context. The Pasha and ICT Policy forums address
the issues of community. And I am sure companies are more than capable of
handling thier clients. But I am afraid we fall short in
understanding our constituency and our context.

3) Constituency: Middle class readers of newspapers and watchers of
television need emotive stimuli in universally understandable
language. I have yet to see the human element of the Cogilent story. Did the
arrested entrepreneur come to Pakistan, leaving
behind a lucrative job in Silicon Valley? Does he have kids? A wife? Old
parents? This is the stuff that gets newspaper editors
excited. Not the wrong IP address.

4) Context: Who is capable of making the most noise in Pakistan? I'd offer
opposition politicians as my first choice--and
how many have we engaged so far? What about less noisy demonstrations? How
many DMG officers understand the issues?
Ministry of Finance wallahs? Has someone tried to talk to Salman Shah? Or
Ashfaque Khan? Please understand, one doesn't need to
like one's context--but we do need to get it. Decision-making in Pakistan is
based on three things. Patronage, profit and pressure.
Middle class entrepreneurs don't do (or shouldn't be doing) patronage. And
they already try to make honest profits. So the only
legitimate option is pressure. External--politicians. Internal--bureaucrats.

If Wahaj and Salman saahib can put a nuts and bolts presentation together
that can easily explain the larger issue and the specific
incident I'll be happy to help arrange meetings with some of these groups as
soon as we're ready with a presentation. Let's not be
content if and when the incident is resolved. As long as the overarching
policy environment remains the same, the next trip up the
creek is not far.

warm regards,

Mosharraf Zaidi





________________________________
> To: jawwad@...; wahaj@...; shakir@...;
> pashagroup@yahoogroups.com
> CC: amumtaz@...; namalik@...; imran@...;
> owais.zaidi@...; abutt@...; ansar@...;
> jehan@...; md@...; tbadsha@...;
> Ashraf.Kapadia@...; danish@...;
> muhammad.ziaullah@...; danish.q@...; saad@...;
> Omar.Saeed@...; akarim@...; ak@...;
> members@...; operators@...; info@...;
> Ashar@...; zubair@...; mtaheer@...;
> pakistanictpolicy@yahoogroups.com; pakgrid@yahoogroups.com;
> saansari@...; asadkarim@...;
> jawad@...
> From: salman@...
> Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2006 17:54:27 +0500
> Subject: [pakistanictpolicy] RE: [pashagroup] RE: Peaceful protest against
> illegal Raid on Cogilent Solutions: Convergence - what an irony
>
> This news item seems to be the only mention about the protest in the print
> media, though it wrongly gives me credit for being there and making a
> statement. I was not there (perhaps should have been!) and obviously did
> not give and interview. The statement was perhaps picked off from my
> e-mail I sent to the group!
> Maybe after Wahaj’s shocking revelation of the incompetence of the people
> who got this going in the first place, some sense may prevail. My
> statement regarding the inability of the PTCL to understand what Internet
> is all about stands justified, now that they cannot even attribute an IP
> address to the right owner.
> Salman
> ________________________________
> From: Jawwad Farid [mailto:jawwad@...]
> Sent: Thursday, December 14, 2006 4:56 PM
> To: wahaj@...; 'Shakir Husain'; pashagroup@yahoogroups.com
> Cc: 'Salman Ansari'; amumtaz@...; 'Nadeem A. Malik'; 'Imran
> Akhtar Shah'; owais.zaidi@...; abutt@...; 'Ansar';
> 'Jahan Ara'; 'Yusuf Hussain'; 'Member IT (Tariq Badsha)';
> Ashraf.Kapadia@...; danish@...; 'Muhammad Zia ullah';
> danish.q@...; 'Khawaja Saad'; Omar.Saeed@...; 'Asad Karim';
> ak@...; members@...; operators@...; 'INFO'; 'Ashar
> Iqbal'; 'Zubair'; mtaheer@...; pakistanictpolicy@yahoogroups.com;
> pakgrid@yahoogroups.com; 'Saad Ansari'; 'asad karim'; 'Ahmed Jawad'
> Subject: RE: [pashagroup] RE: Peaceful protest against illegal Raid on
> Cogilent Solutions: Convergence - what an irony
> Punitive damages – what is the cash that PTCL carries on its balance
> sheet. If Cogilent can get a good lawyer they wouldn’t need an IPO, an out
> of court settlement with PTCL/Etisilat should do the trick.
> Jawwad
> ________________________________
> From: Wahaj us Siraj [mailto:wahaj@...]
> Sent: Thursday, December 14, 2006 4:43 PM
> To: 'Shakir Husain'; pashagroup@yahoogroups.com
> Cc: 'Salman Ansari'; amumtaz@...; 'Nadeem A. Malik'; 'Imran
> Akhtar Shah'; owais.zaidi@...; abutt@...; 'Ansar';
> 'Jahan Ara'; 'Yusuf Hussain'; 'Member IT (Tariq Badsha)';
> Ashraf.Kapadia@...; 'Jawwad Farid'; danish@...;
> 'Muhammad Zia ullah'; danish.q@...; 'Khawaja Saad';
> Omar.Saeed@...; 'Asad Karim'; ak@...; members@...;
> operators@...; 'INFO'; 'Ashar Iqbal'; 'Zubair'; mtaheer@...;
> pakistanictpolicy@yahoogroups.com; pakgrid@yahoogroups.com; 'Saad Ansari';
> 'asad karim'; 'Ahmed Jawad'
> Subject: RE: [pashagroup] RE: Peaceful protest against illegal Raid on
> Cogilent Solutions: Convergence - what an irony
> Dear all,
> Another very shocking development. It’s lately discovered that PTA/FIA has
> raided the wrong office and premises. In the FIR of FIA, IP address
> 203.99.57.224/29 is mentioned was not in use by Cogilent Solutions. Actual
> IP address of Cogilent Solutions was 203.99.57.232/29. The IP No.
> 203.99.57.224/29 mentioned in FIR is in use by some other customer.
> This shows that PTA/FIA team has infact raided the wrong place, wrong
> company without investigations and due diligence. They’ve nabbed wrong and
> innocent person and severely damaged reputation of the company. Poor
> Faisal is in jail for last 10 days and now he’s proven innocent. Let’s
> hope that he gets out on bail tomorrow.
> Kind regards…Wahaj
> ________________________________
> From: Shakir Husain [mailto:shakir@...]
> Sent: Thursday, December 14, 2006 3:27 PM
> To: pashagroup@yahoogroups.com
> Cc: wahaj@...; Salman Ansari; amumtaz@...; Nadeem A.
> Malik; Imran Akhtar Shah; owais.zaidi@...;
> abutt@...; Ansar; Jahan Ara; Yusuf Hussain; Member IT (Tariq
> Badsha); Ashraf.Kapadia@...; Jawwad Farid; danish@...;
> Muhammad Zia ullah; danish.q@...; Khawaja Saad;
> Omar.Saeed@...; Asad Karim; ak@...; members@...;
> operators@...; INFO; Ashar Iqbal; Zubair; mtaheer@...;
> pakistanictpolicy@yahoogroups.com; pakgrid@yahoogroups.com; Saad Ansari;
> asad karim
> Subject: Re: [pashagroup] RE: Peaceful protest against illegal Raid on
> Cogilent Solutions: Convergence - what an irony
> i have a few suggestions for the poor folks at Cogilent, PASHA members,
> and  generally people who are trying to run serious businesses in the land
> of the pure.
> 1) a hunger strike outside the MOITT offices with the press covering it.
> 2) unleashing a media blitz - i'd be more than happy to help out.
> 3) a legal defense and damages against PTA for loss of revenues and
> punitive damages.
> 4) bring on Shaukat Aziz as a partner for your businesses - 10 percent
> should be good.
> 5) get a retired army general and put him on your board.
> 6) move your business to sharjah, vietnam, malaysia, oman, or South
> Africa...
> Saeed, as for your email on NADRA....i can assure you they could terminate
> voice calls in bulk and no one could touch them!
> Regards,
> Shakir Husain
> On 12/14/06, Saeed Qadri <saeed@...<mailto:saeed@...>>
> wrote:
> OK: here is something very "interesting". NADRA our biggest IT employer is
> procuring ATA devices and VOIP phones. Attached is the scan of the tender
> that came out today. I wonder how legal that would be. Maybe the next raid
> will be at NADRA's offices it is also conveniently located near PTA like
> Cogilent.
> Saeed Qadri
> ________________________________
> From: Wahaj us Siraj [mailto:wahaj@...<mailto:wahaj@...>]
> Sent: Wednesday, December 13, 2006 5:39 PM
> To: 'Salman Ansari';
> amumtaz@...<mailto:amumtaz@...>
> Cc: 'Nadeem A. Malik'; 'Imran Akhtar Shah';
> owais.zaidi@...<mailto:owais.zaidi@...>;
> abutt@...<mailto:abutt@...>; 'Ansar'; 'Jahan
> Ara'; 'Yusuf Hussain'; 'Member IT (Tariq Badsha)';
> Ashraf.Kapadia@...<mailto:Ashraf.Kapadia@...>;
> 'Jawwad Farid'; danish@...<mailto:danish@...>;
> 'Saeed@...<mailto:Saeed@...>'; 'Muhammad Zia ullah';
> danish.q@...<mailto:danish.q@...>; 'Khawaja Saad';
> Omar.Saeed@...<mailto:Omar.Saeed@...>; 'Asad Karim';
> ak@...<mailto:ak@...>;
> members@...<mailto:members@...>;
> operators@...<mailto:operators@...>; 'INFO'; 'Ashar Iqbal';
> 'Zubair'; mtaheer@...<mailto:mtaheer@...>;
> pakistanictpolicy@yahoogroups.com<mailto:pakistanictpolicy@yahoogroups.com>;
> pakgrid@yahoogroups.com<mailto:pakgrid@yahoogroups.com>; 'Saad Ansari';
> 'Imran Akhtar Shah'; 'asad karim'; 'Ansar'
> Subject: RE: Peaceful protest against illegal Raid on Cogilent Solutions:
> Convergence - what an irony
> This is the text of FIR:
> FIA Crimes Circle, RWP
> FIR No. 24/2006
> Date: 5.12.06
> Complainant: Mr.Sajjad Awan, Director PTA
> Against:            M/s Cogilent, STP-II, F-5, Islamabad
> Today 5th December, 2006 written complaint from Mr. Sajjad Latif Awan,
> Zonal Director (Enforcement) PTA Rawalpindi was received addressed to
> Additional Director FIA Crime Circle as under-Pakistan Telecommunication
> Authority (PTA) has received a report from Manager Network Security &
> Surveillance\ (NSS) of Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL)
> Islamabad dated 30th November, 2006 that some illegal VOIP has been
> detected against IPs 203.99.57.224/29<http://203.99.57.224/29>. The
> Manager NSS requested PTA to provide assistance in obtaining the final
> destination of the IPs reported (Copy attached as Annex-X). the same was
> provided accordingly (Attached Annex-Y). In response of the information
> above PTA has received a complain from Manager Network Security &
> Surveillance (NSS) of Pakistan Telecommunication Limited (PTCL) that M/S
> Cogilent is involved transaction of International Voice traffic by
> establishing and authorized computer based PABX/Gateway exchange at 205D,
> 2nd Floor, Evacuee Trust Complex, Agha Khan Road, F-5/1, Islamabad. The
> complainant has further submitted relevant analytical record of IP's
> though which the voice is being used internationally. By looking into the
> record submitted the Manager NNS and the info collected from Web Site of
> Company (www.cogilent.com<http://www.cogilent.com/>) and having been
> satisfied that the illegal business for wrongful gains and loss to Govt.
> exchequer has occurred, undersigned believes, that is a prima-facie case
> of violation of, in addition to others. Section 31 of Pakistan
> Telecommunication (R-Organization) Act 1996, Section 36/37 of ETO 2002 and
> Section 25 C of Telegraph Act, 1885. It is therefore requested the
> necessary investigation be carried out in the greater interest of service
> and save Govt. from further loss of revenue. The cop of complaint received
> from PTCL alongwith submitted record mentioned above is attached for ready
> reference. The team of PTA and PTCL will be available for any assistance
> required by FIA round the clock.
> As per Sensitivity of the case and a risk for leakage of information which
> could alert the accused and early action will be highly appreciated
> S/d—Sajjad Latif Awan, Zonal Director (Enforcement), Rawalpindi. ACTION BY
> FIA: From the contents of complaint reproduced above. Prima-facie offences
> under section 31 TRA, 1996, 36/36, E.T.O 2002, 25C Telegraph Act, 1885,
> 34/420 PPC appear to have been committed. Accordingly a case is registered
> under the order of the Competent Authority. Copies of FIR being sent to
> quarter concerned. After completing necessary formalities raid will be
> conducted in collaboration with PTA/PTCL officers for recovery of
> device/apparatus illegally installed/reportedly functioning.
> ________________________________
> From: Salman Ansari
> [mailto:salman@...<mailto:salman@...>]
> Sent: Wednesday, December 13, 2006 5:19 PM
> To: amumtaz@...<mailto:amumtaz@...>
> Cc: wahaj@...<mailto:wahaj@...>; 'Nadeem A. Malik'; 'Imran
> Akhtar Shah'; owais.zaidi@...<mailto:owais.zaidi@...>;
> abutt@...<mailto:abutt@...>; 'Ansar'; 'Jahan
> Ara'; 'Yusuf Hussain'; 'Member IT (Tariq Badsha)';
> Ashraf.Kapadia@...<mailto:Ashraf.Kapadia@...>;
> 'Jawwad Farid'; danish@...<mailto:danish@...>; '
> Saeed@...<mailto:Saeed@...>'; 'Muhammad Zia ullah';
> danish.q@...<mailto:danish.q@...>; 'Khawaja Saad';
> Omar.Saeed@...<mailto:Omar.Saeed@...>; 'Asad Karim';
> ak@...<mailto:ak@...>;
> members@...<mailto:members@...>;
> operators@...<mailto:operators@...>; 'INFO'; 'Ashar Iqbal';
> 'Zubair'; mtaheer@...<mailto:mtaheer@...>;
> pakistanictpolicy@yahoogroups.com<mailto:pakistanictpolicy@yahoogroups.com>;
> pakgrid@yahoogroups.com<mailto:pakgrid@yahoogroups.com>; 'Saad Ansari';
> 'Imran Akhtar Shah'; 'asad karim'; 'Ansar'
> Subject: Peaceful protest against illegal Raid on Cogilent Solutions:
> Convergence - what an irony
> It is indeed an irony that this very painful episode is causing
> 'Convergence' of another kind in ICT. For a change, people from the
> Telecom sector (all varieties) and the IT sector are coming together for a
> common cause. I hope that this unity continues for the betterment of IT
> and Telecoms in Pakistan.
> I hope that sense will prevail and we can bring the suffering to an end
> once the PTA can be convinced about the tragedy of this particular action.
> Though, I can understand their perspective in carrying out this 'raid'
> since they have been chasing ghosts and tracking down illegal operators
> (mostly at the behest of PTCL) and it is important that the professionals
> convince the Chairman PTA so that the lower staff whose wrong conclusions
> have led to this situation, do not prevail. My fear is that unless this is
> handled carefully, the people at Cogilent will suffer, becoming unwitting
> pawns in the middle.
> Unfortunately the big fish who have minted millions are scot-free and
> never touched. The press release is not correct as this avoids mentioning
> the facts and parrots out incorrect data. I hope that the Chairman PTA
> will go through the case with a tooth comb.
> In my personal view it is the PTCL which should be charge sheeted and
> brought to justice this time, to ensure that they stop pulling the ICT
> industry down just to overcome their own incompetence in being able to
> handle their business in a competitive environment. It is they who filed
> the complaint in the first place, gave the so called proof to the PTA and
> then accompanied the FIA into the Miami Vice type of a bust of this
> software house.
> The issue is also the lack of understanding of the term VoIP by all
> concerned (as Ansar mildly put it, difference between 'voice' and
> 'speech'): PTA, Ministry and worst of all the PTCL. This term has been
> tainted by its misuse by everyone concerned for defining illegal call
> termination into Pakistan. Perhaps we can have this event bring this into
> clarity for the PTA and others that everything today is IP (all new
> operators in Pakistan use IP equipment). The same is used by Skype, MSN,
> in all voice applications today. There are thousands of people (like me)
> in Pakistan who use this and are by the same flawed judgment, are common
> criminals.
> All LDIs, LL, WLL, new cellular and Optical fibre systems deployments use
> NGN equipment. Almost all applications being developed use IP: VoIP, Video
> over IP, IPTV…these need products to be developed by our industry. I do
> not agree with PSEB that the PTA would need to be asked before someone can
> do any development in this domain. We just need to get this issue sorted
> out once and for all.
> The charges are so flawed that even the items mentioned in the charges
> (see PSEB note) are perhaps just to influence the judge and show this to
> be a heinous crime. The Telegraph Act of 1885 was superseded by the
> Telecom act of 1996 (in this context), the mention of the clauses of the
> Electronic Transaction Ordinance have no relevance to the issue at all.
> Was the mention of the Pakistan Penal Code necessary so that there is some
> reason to hold the person without correct charges? Were all these items
> mentioned, as the Police throws in the kitchen sink in FIRs, to be able to
> drag the people through a mess?
> I would like the Chairman PTA to please ask for explanation from his staff
> on this issue. This is also perhaps one of the reasons why most of the
> really guilty people prosecuted for illegal traffic, get away?
> Almost 90% of all international calls that come in via ALL operators
> including PTCL, do not show these with international number prefixes:
> either the + or the 00 is dropped, so that they can avoid the APC to the
> LL operators or paying the PTA for the USF. I wonder how many of these
> have been charged or convicted?  These have been the biggest 'terminators'
> of the so-called illegal traffic. The PTCL itself broke the PTA law by
> cheating and selling rates into Pakistan at less then 5 cents when the
> rate set by the PTA was over 10 cents. Was the PTCL fined or penalized for
> this 'theft' and flouting the PTA and Government Policy?
> This is where the millions of dollars have been siphoned off not by people
> like Cogilent.
> After the excellent decision by the PTA to reduce the accounting rate to
> 2.5 cents the only people who can make money are the 'legal' operators not
> the pirates. Just do the numbers. Perhaps the focus of the team should now
> finally shift to the real gold mine.
> I would also request the Chairman PTA to review the press release with the
> facts on the ground see the mass of e-mails of the people in the industry
> and data about what the raiding party actually got hold of and how they
> interpreted it. Just start from the simple fact that:
>  1.  There were 4 telephone lines and PTCL should be asked to present
> detailed bills for the millions of rupees worth of damages caused.
>  2.  There was NO voice gateway as the pirates use
>  3.  The website of Cogilent shows what they do – develop voice products
> using IP technology – so the asterix switch and the internal CDRs (no
> relation with actual call CDRs - I hope the PTA/FIA people know how to
> interpret these).
>  4.  A squid based server and a few PCs
>  5.  No humongous GSM gateways.
>  6.  The GSM SIMs all have detailed records from the relevant operators
> and can show how many calls were made
> The point I am making is how carelessly a company's reputation can be
> damaged by the action and its follow up.
> So first things first, we need to convince the PTA with  details to be
> able to understand the issue which is not a simple error in judgment and
> can be brushed aside. Since handing this over to the gestapo like tactics
> of the law enforcers, to coerce some sort of a confession, will
> irreparably damage this nascent industry and the credibility of the PTA
> itself.
> While we may (Inshallah) be able to get to the end of this miserable
> episode by convincing the PTA and the Government of the error and damage
> caused, we need to constructively engage the PTA and the MoIT, to make
> sure that this does not happen again, especially under the pressure of the
> PTCL.
> Please pardon me for the long mail but I feel very passionately about the
> issue and the unfairness of it all.
> Regards
> Salman
> ________________________________
> From: Muhammad Tahir [mailto: mtaheer@...<mailto:mtaheer@...>]
> Sent: Tuesday, December 12, 2006 4:43 PM
> To: amumtaz@...<mailto:amumtaz@...>
> Cc: wahaj@...<mailto:wahaj@...>; Nadeem A. Malik; Imran
> Akhtar Shah; owais.zaidi@...<mailto:owais.zaidi@...>;
> abutt@...<mailto:abutt@...>; Salman Ansari;
> Ansar; Jahan Ara; Yusuf Hussain; Member IT (Tariq Badsha);
> Ashraf.Kapadia@... <mailto:Ashraf.Kapadia@...> ;
> Jawwad Farid; danish@...<mailto:danish@...>;
> Saeed@...<mailto:Saeed@...>; Muhammad Zia ullah;
> danish.q@...<mailto:danish.q@...>; Khawaja Saad;
> Omar.Saeed@...<mailto:Omar.Saeed@...>; Asad Karim;
> ak@...<mailto:ak@...>;
> members@...<mailto:members@...>;
> operators@...<mailto:operators@...>; INFO; Ashar Iqbal;
> Zubair
> Subject: [Norton AntiSpam] Peacefull protest against illegal Raid on
> Cogilent Solutions.
> Dear all,
> Faisal is still in jail on 8th day of his arrest. We tried many corners
> but no one seems to be listening and acting in the way they should have
> been. This is now clearly established that Cogilent didn't do any illegal
> job and whatever they've been doing, was perfectly covered under the laws
> of Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
> In order to highlight the issue before press and IT community, friends of
> Faisal, Jawad, Cogilent and IT/CS professionals of twin cities would be
> arranging a peaceful and graceful protest in front of Software Technology
> Park-II, Evacuee Trust Complex, Aga Khan Road, Next to Marriot Hotel, on
> Wednesday, 13 December 2006 at 1:30 pm sharp.
> This would be an activity for half an hour to express solidarity with
> Faisal/Cogilent, to demand immediate release of Faisal, with drawl of the
> illegal and fake case and punishment for those who have taken this
> colonial and barbaric step. Faisal's old bed ridden mother is
> grief-sicken, Jawad (accused CTO, still 'at large' in FIA files) with his
> young daughter who was detected with brain tumor few days ago, is running
> from pillar to post. Cogilent is practically shut down with FIA teams
> going there every day and harassing them with dire consequences. The whole
> team of young CS guys is in miserable shape and need your help. They're
> suffering due to high headedness of government officials, but no one is
> trying to heal their wounds.
> Please join all for this protest in front of Software Technology Park-II,
> Evacuee Trust Complex, Aga Khan Road, Next to Marriot Hotel, on Wednesday,
> 13 December 2006 at 1:30 pm sharp. Please do bring the play cards with you
> condemning the act and highlighting the need of justice.
> Tahir
> Project Manager
> Cogilent Solutions
> 051- 2871173
> On 12/12/06, Wahaj us Siraj <wahaj@...<mailto:wahaj@...>>
> wrote:
> Dear all,
> Enclosed is the PTA's Determination on PC to Phone services being legal
> effective 01 Jan 03. This was the case fought by ISPAK in PTA for a long
> time.
> Here's the letter that we sent to Chairman PTA yesterday. Nothing moved
> yet in the power corridors and poor Faisal is still in jail on 8 th day of
> illegal custody.
> Kind regards…Wahaj
> Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan
> (ISPAK)
> 11 December 2006
> Maj. Gen. (R) Shahzada Alam Malik
> Chairman
> Pakistan Telecommunication Authority
> Islamabad
> Subject:        Raid on M/s Cogilent Solutions, Islamabad for Alleged
>                     VOIP Termination
> Dear Sir,
>           We would like to draw your kind attention to the raid conducted
> by PTA/ FIA on Islamabad based software company, M/s Cogilent Solutions
> and arrest of its CEO, Mr. Faisal Chohan on 05 December 06. ISPAK has
> thoroughly investigated the case and concluded that the company was not
> involved in any illegal voice termination/origination service based on the
> following facts:
>       i.     Cogilent had only 4 PSTN lines (3 phones and one fax) from
> PTCL and their monthly bills of last one year don't indicate any calls
> other than their normal office use.
>      ii.     Raiding team couldn't find any GSM gateway/s or SIMs in
> Cogilent's office premises.
>    iii.     There is no evidence of A or B Tel numbers from the logs
> servers confiscated by the raiding team.
>    iv.     Record of Cogilent's DSL connection from its DSL service
> provider doesn't indicate any abnormal use or pattern typical of regular
> or commercial VOIP activity. They've utilized on average of 10 Gbyte of
> data per month (upload + download) which is very normal for regular
> Internet use only.
>     v.     Cogilent however did make few (not  exceeding 20) PC to phone
> overseas calls every month using Internet but these calls are perfectly
> legal as per PTA's Determination of December 2002.
> 2.       We'd request for an urgent meeting with you and your team to
> present the evidence and explain joint industry's point of view in detail
> on innocence of M/s Cogilent so that this case is settled and ordeal of
> Mr. Faisal Chohan could be ended without further suffering.
> 3.       Needless to say that whole IT industry of the country including
> ISPs, Call Centers and Software Houses are very perturbed over this
> incident and want to see a quick end to the suffering of the company
> employees and with drawl of the case.
>           With kind regards.
> Yours truly,
> Wahaj us Siraj
> Convener
> ________________________________
> From: Nadeem A. Malik [mailto:
> namalik@...<mailto:namalik@...>]
> Sent: Tuesday, December 12, 2006 11:57 AM
> To: Imran Akhtar Shah; wahaj@...<mailto:wahaj@...>;
> owais.zaidi@...<mailto:owais.zaidi@...>;
> abutt@...<mailto:abutt@...>; 'Salman Ansari';
> 'Ansar'; Jahan Ara; Yusuf Hussain; 'Member IT (Tariq Badsha)';
> Ashraf.Kapadia@... <mailto:Ashraf.Kapadia@...>
> Cc: 'Jawwad Farid'; danish@...<mailto:danish@...>; '
> Saeed@...<mailto:Saeed@...>'; 'Muhammad Zia ullah';
> danish.q@...<mailto:danish.q@...>; 'Khawaja Saad';
> Omar.Saeed@...<mailto:Omar.Saeed@...>; 'Asad Karim';
> ak@...<mailto:ak@...>;
> members@...<mailto:members@...>;
> operators@...<mailto:operators@...>; 'Atif Mumtaz'
> Subject: Re: PTA/FIA Raids an Islamabad Software Company and Puts CEO
> behind bars......
> Technology has a shelf life of a banana then how could you regulate it?
> Who make all these rules and decide when to use them. For answer "
> Everyone has right to University Degree, even its in Hamburger
> Technology".
> IT business  profoundly depend on science and technology (news for many
> :).  At many Govt agencies almost no one understands  technology and its
> dynamics.  This is a prescription for disaster.  This combustible mixture
> of ignorance and power has blow up in our faces in this case.
> PSEB did miss the point. The greatest task for PSEB is to make this
> country destination of choice for IT business by making Govt agencies
> aware of IT business dynamics and create conducive business environment.
> The following is from PSEB web site:
> "
>  *   Act as a bridge between the private IT companies and the various
> government bodies
>  *   Study the laws, regulations and strategies of various competitor
> countries and explore new markets for the Pakistan IT industry
> "
>  Action like these won't help to achieve these goals.
> Best Regards
> Nadeem A. Malik
> On 12/12/06 10:49 AM, "Imran Akhtar Shah" <
> imran@...<mailto:imran@...>> wrote:
> PSEB,
> Please learn from the mistakes till date you guys have done. Instead of a
> booming Software Industry and outsource business (Call Centers) , where
> Pakistan is today…you all should reflect back and correct your approach.
> ISPAK is proud to be the torch bearer of ISP & Telecom industry in
> Pakistan, this is the time you guys go to basics and read the charter of
> PSEB for Heaven Sake!
> Regards,
> Imran Akhtar Shah
> ________________________________
> From: Wahaj us Siraj [mailto:wahaj@...]
> Sent: Monday, December 11, 2006 8:47 PM
> To: wahaj@...<mailto:wahaj@...>;
> owais.zaidi@...<mailto:owais.zaidi@...>; 'Nadeem A.
> Malik'; abutt@...<mailto:abutt@...>; 'Salman
> Ansari'; 'Ansar'; 'Jahan Ara'; 'Yusuf Hussain'; 'Member IT (Tariq
> Badsha)'; Ashraf.Kapadia@...
> <mailto:Ashraf.Kapadia@...>
> Cc: 'Jawwad Farid'; danish@...<mailto:danish@...>; '
> Saeed@...<mailto:Saeed@...>'; 'Muhammad Zia ullah';
> danish.q@...<mailto:danish.q@...>; 'Khawaja Saad';
> Omar.Saeed@...<mailto:Omar.Saeed@...>; 'Asad Karim';
> ak@...<mailto:ak@...>;
> members@...<mailto:members@...>;
> operators@...<mailto:operators@...>; 'Atif Mumtaz'
> Subject: RE: PTA/FIA Raids an Islamabad Software Company and Puts CEO
> behind bars......
> PSEB,
> Instead of supporting the cause and stand up against aggression, you're
> intimidating your own members. Cogilent did nothing illegal. The
> authorities acted in illegal way. PTA itself has permitted PC to Phone
> VOIP calls in December 02.
> Kind regards…Wahaj
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Salman Ansari [mailto:salman@...]
> Sent: Monday, December 11, 2006 12:08 PM
> To: 'news@...<mailto:news@...>'
> Subject: RE: ILLEGAL USE OF VOICE OVER INTERNET PROTOCOL (VOIP)
> TECHNOLOGY__
> What an irony...
> PSEB, you seem to be missing the point completely.
> Salman
> -----Original Message-----
> From: PSEB [ mailto:news@...]
> Sent: Monday, December 11, 2006 11:54 AM
> Subject: ILLEGAL USE OF VOICE OVER INTERNET PROTOCOL (VOIP) TECHNOLOGY__
> __ILLEGAL USE OF VOICE OVER INTERNET PROTOCOL (VOIP) TE
> ____
> __ILLEGAL USE OF VOICE OVER INTERNET PROTOCOL (VOIP) TECHNOLOGY__
> The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and Federal Investigation
> Agency (FIA) are taking a serious view of any violation of the Pakistan
> Telecommunication (Re-organization) Act 1996 and in particular
> non-authorized use of the Internet for Voice Traffic (VOIP). Recently PTA
> & FIA conducted a raid on an Islamabad based software development company
> and arrested its CEO for alleged illegal termination of calls (illegal use
> of VOIP). The company was accused of committing offences under section 31
> of the Pakistan Telecommunication (Re-organization) Act 1996, section
> 36/37 of Electronic Transaction Ordinance 2002, section 25 C of
> Telegraphic Act 1885 and sections 34/420 of Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).
> Pakistan Software Export Board urges all of its member companies to comply
> with the legal undertaking provided when signing up for Internet Service
> Provision as well as all rules, regulations and conditions prescribed in
> relevant laws which can be accessed at the following URLs:
> 1.    Pakistan Telecommunication (Re-organization) Act 1996 at
> www.pta.gov.pk<http://www.pta.gov.pk/> <
> www.pta.gov.pk<http://www.pta.gov.pk/>>
> 2.    Electronic Transaction Ordinance 2002 at
> www.pakistan.gov.pk/divisions/itandtelecom-division/media/eto2002.pdf
> <http://www.pakistan.gov.pk/divisions/itandtelecom-division/media/eto2002.pdf>
> <
>
www.pakistan.gov.pk/divisions/itandtelecom-division/media/eto2002.pdf<http://www\
.pakistan.gov.pk/divisions/itandtelecom-division/media/eto2002.pdf>>
> Unless you are a call center registered with the PSEB, you should not be
> using the Internet for Voice Traffic. In addition, you must comply with
> all rules, regulations and conditions of operation as a call center. The
> detailed procedure for facilitation of Domestic and International Call
> Centers can be downloaded   from the website of PTCL at
> www.ptcl.com.pk/tariff/call_centres/download/call_center_policy.doc
> <http://www.ptcl.com.pk/tariff/call_centres/download/call_center_policy.doc>
> Kindly note that if you are a developer of VoIP products, who generates
> minimal voice traffic over the Internet for product testing purposes only,
> then you are advised to please contact PTA for clarification and special
> permission with full justification of the case with a copy to PSEB at
> info@...<mailto:info@...>.
> Note that illegal generation of VoIP traffic can lead to arrest,
> imprisonment, and/or fines under the applicable rules and regulations
> stated above.
> Sajid Iqbal
> Manager Domestic Business
> Pakistan Software Export Board
> 2nd Floor, Evacuee Trust Complex
> F-5, Agha Khan Road, Islamabad-Pakistan
> Ph: +92-51-9220812
> ________________________________
> From: Wahaj us Siraj [mailto:wahaj@...]
> Sent: Monday, December 11, 2006 6:14 PM
> To: 'owais.zaidi@...<mailto:owais.zaidi@...>'; 'Nadeem
> A. Malik'; ' abutt@...<mailto:abutt@...>';
> 'Salman Ansari'; 'Ansar'; 'Jahan Ara'; 'Yusuf Hussain'; 'Member IT (Tariq
> Badsha)'; ' Ashraf.Kapadia@...
> <mailto:Ashraf.Kapadia@...> '
> Cc: 'Jawwad Farid'; ' danish@...<mailto:danish@...>'; '
> Saeed@...<mailto:Saeed@...>'; 'Muhammad Zia ullah';
> 'danish.q@...<mailto:danish.q@...>'; 'Khawaja Saad'; '
> Omar.Saeed@...<mailto:Omar.Saeed@...>'; 'Asad Karim';
> 'ak@...<mailto:ak@...>'; '
> members@...<mailto:members@...>';
> 'operators@...<mailto:operators@...>'; 'Atif Mumtaz'
> Subject: RE: PTA/FIA Raids an Islamabad Software Company and Puts CEO
> behind bars......
> ________________________________
> From: Owais Zaidi [mailto:owais.zaidi@...]
> Sent: Saturday, December 09, 2006 3:31 PM
> To: 'Nadeem A. Malik';
> abutt@...<mailto:abutt@...>;
> wahaj@...<mailto:wahaj@...>; 'Salman Ansari'; 'Ansar';
> 'Jahan Ara'; 'Yusuf Hussain'; 'Member IT (Tariq Badsha)';
> Ashraf.Kapadia@... <mailto:Ashraf.Kapadia@...>
> Cc: 'Jawwad Farid'; danish@...<mailto:danish@...>; '
> Saeed@...<mailto:Saeed@...>'; 'Muhammad Zia ullah';
> danish.q@...<mailto:danish.q@...>; 'Khawaja Saad'
> Subject: RE: PTA/FIA Raids an Islamabad Software Company and Puts CEO
> behind bars......
> As Pasha General Secretary, I will appreciate if someone from Cogilent
> provides a schematic for their setup with components clearly identified. I
> have talked to our corporate lawyer and he has asked for this diagram.
> Regards,
> Owais Zaidi
>
[http://by124w.bay124.mail.live.com/mail/SafeRedirect.aspx?hm__tg=http://207.46.\
11.249/att/GetAttachment.aspx&hm__qs=file%3d7e4b5a59-dba1-453c-9c81-f3f93f3ec624\
.jpg%26ct%3dimage%252fjpeg%26name%3dimage001.jpg%26inline%3d1%26rfc%3d0%26empty%\
3dFalse&oneredir=1&ip=10.1.106.222&d=d1968&mf=0]
> Coporate Office
> phone: +92 21 455 4016
> cell: +92 301 823 1188
> C 30, Mohd Ali Housing Society
> Karachi 75400, Pakistan
> EBusiness Ops Center
> phone: +92 21 565 6293
> 601, STSM Foundation Building
> Beaumont Road, Civil Lines
> Karachi 75530
> www.access.net.pk<http://www.access.net.pk/>
> DISCLAIMER: This e-mail contains proprietary information some of which may
> be legally privileged. It is for the intended recipient only. If an
> addressing or transmission error has misdirected this e-mail, please
> notify the author by replying to it. If you are not the intended recipient
> you may not use, disclose, distribute, copy, print or rely on this e-mail.
> ________________________________
> From: Nadeem A. Malik [mailto:namalik@...]
> Sent: Saturday, December 09, 2006 11:26 AM
> To: abutt@...<mailto:abutt@...>;
> wahaj@...<mailto:wahaj@...>; 'Salman Ansari'; 'Ansar'; Jahan
> Ara; Yusuf Hussain; 'Member IT (Tariq Badsha)';
> Ashraf.Kapadia@... <mailto:Ashraf.Kapadia@...>
> Cc: 'Owais Zaidi'; 'Jawwad Farid';
> danish@...<mailto:danish@...>; '
> Saeed@...<mailto:Saeed@...>'; 'Muhammad Zia ullah';
> danish.q@...<mailto:danish.q@...>; 'Khawaja Saad'
> Subject: Re: PTA/FIA Raids an Islamabad Software Company and Puts CEO
> behind bars......
> It is an unfortunate incident and have shown what kind of respect PTCL has
> for our industry. Making Public Monopoly into private monopoly was bad a
> call and was told to decision makers. Now we are experiences the greatest
> privatization's results , LDI and LL operators are scaling back their
> operations, Call Centers, BPO, SW Houses are feeling the pinch due to
> PTCL's resistance to reduce the bandwidth charges and its least concern
> regarding the quality of services.
> Now, adding insult to injury, PTCL/PTA/FIA acted in old colonial day
> manner, "Guilty until proven innocent". PTCL and PTA claim to have records
> to prove their claim but that still does not justify the action. This
> should be just a dispute between  two parties not fight where one with
> bigger stick wins.
> During the meeting with Chairman PTA and other officials on Oct 30, 2006,
> among other issues PASHA raised the similar fears i.e that our companies
> are reluctant to take projects which requires IP based voice setups since
> currently there is no frame work exists with PTA. Further, it was told
> that any wrong action on either party can put our industry in awkward
> position and may jeopardize its growth. Chairman PTA assured us that they
> will evaluate and develop framework to cover such aspects.
> We must exert our joint efforts to resolve this and develop framework for
> future. Wahaj, let's call a joint meeting of ISPAK, PASHA and other
> stakeholders ASAP and take up this with MoIT and PTA.
> Best Regards
> Nadeem A. Malik
> On 12/9/06 7:18 AM,
> "abutt@...<mailto:abutt@...>" <
> abutt@...<mailto:abutt@...>> wrote:
> Dear Colleagues ! This infact is act that cannot be left with out making
> the concerns realize that they have done a wrong thing, About two years
> back PTCL did the same thing in Karachi when they raided SUPER PHONE
> facility at Gerry's office, near Hotel Metropole,  Super Phone management
> acted fast and with support from industry, immediately Minister of IT Mr
> Leghari was contacted same evening,  Nice of Minister sahib who called up
> Chief Minister Sind, prompt action was taken the concerned police
> officials were suspended, but nothing was done of PTCL folks who
> instigated this raid.
> I agree with Wahaj that this has to be taken to the highest authority, in
> this context ACCO stands by all of you, with all our media contacts,  we
> are already discussing with our members the next course of action that
> will include but not limited to bringing the PTCL management on air along
> with PTA, by getting our associated TV channels to go after them and bring
> them in a debate with the Industry players and make them answer the
> questions. Also to send press releases to all news papers. Then seek PSEB
> to get all of the stake holders get appointment with IT minister, so
> proper report can be presented along with PTCL officials.
> We also with Salman shab, that it looks like no body in PTCL seems to be
> bothered about ITES sector and its growth, and the new management are
> trying to run this company as a monopoly.
> On 8th at CONNECT IT call center session, I have already spoken on this in
> public during  ACCO presentation, and had discussion with Sind IT Advisor,
> Mr Nauman Saigol also.
> Regards
> Abdullah Butt
> ACCO
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Wahaj us Siraj [mailto:wahaj@...]
> <mailto:wahaj@...%5d><mailto:wahaj@...]>
> Sent: Friday, December 08, 2006 1:17 PM
> To: 'Salman Ansari'; 'Ansar'; 'Jehan Ara';
> abutt@...<mailto:abutt@...>;
> md@...<mailto:md@...>; 'Member IT (Tariq Badsha)';
> Ashraf.Kapadia@...<mailto:Ashraf.Kapadia@...>
> Cc: Ashraf.Kapadia@...<mailto:Ashraf.Kapadia@...>;
> 'Nadeem A. Malik'; 'Owais Zaidi'; 'Jawwad Farid';
> danish@...<mailto:danish@...>; '
> Saeed@...<mailto:Saeed@...>'; 'Muhammad Zia ullah';
> danish.q@...<mailto:danish.q@...>; 'Khawaja Saad'
> Subject: RE: PTA/FIA Raids an Islamabad Software Company and Puts CEO
> behind bars......
> Salman bhai,
> Infact, Yusuf has been supporting this case since it was brought to his
> knowledge. He has gone many extra miles to support this case which no
> bureaucrat would have done. He even arranged lawyer for the Faisal's first
> court appearance on Wednesday and we really appreciate this. Such steps
> were never taken by any of his predecessors.
> PASHA should take a tough stand on this as this happened with a software
> company. Industry forums need to be more vocal and strong. Otherwise, it's
> doomed to happen with anyone else tomorrow.
> Kind regards…Wahaj
> ________________________________
> From: Salman Ansari [mailto:salman@...]
> <mailto:salman@...%5d><mailto:salman@...]>
> Sent: Friday, December 08, 2006 12:33 PM
> To: wahaj@...<mailto:wahaj@...>; 'Ansar'; 'Jehan Ara';
> abutt@...<mailto:abutt@...>;
> md@...<mailto:md@...>; 'Member IT ( Tariq Badsha)';
> Ashraf.Kapadia@...<mailto:Ashraf.Kapadia@...>
> Cc: Ashraf.Kapadia@...<mailto:Ashraf.Kapadia@...>;
> 'Nadeem A. Malik'; 'Owais Zaidi'; 'Jawwad Farid';
> danish@...<mailto:danish@...>; '
> Saeed@...<mailto:Saeed@...>'; 'Muhammad Zia ullah';
> danish.q@...<mailto:danish.q@...>; 'Khawaja Saad'
> Subject: PTA/FIA Raids an Islamabad Software Company and Puts CEO behind
> bars......
> Dear Yusuf
> This is perhaps your first really big challenge. If the PM can get
> ecstatic about the billions of dollars worth of SW export out of Pakistan,
> I am sure he should be very concerned about this major fiasco. Please do
> not let this issue die without this company getting a big public apology
> and financial compensation – perhaps some good use of the billions in the
> R&D fund.
> I really wonder if the PSEB and MoIT will move in this or will this be
> another passive, business as usual case. After the silly taxing of
> computers and IT equipment, with no redress from the MoIT, the government
> should just give up this sector and forget about the plans that you have
> crafted so well and are training people and creating resources like Tech
> parks and those of the HEC is assiduously creating PhDs for stimulating a
> knowledge economy.
> When will we get over the Stalinist attitude on VoIP? After the reduction
> of APC to 2.5 cents thereby reducing the motivation of PTCL no longer
> circumventing the PTA rules (which everyone else has to follow) and
> terminating millions of minutes via their own Huawei switch in Lahore, the
> issue of the pot calling the kettle black has to stop and these
> meaningless raids have to stop. Specially ones like these.
> It appears that we have sold our spirit, ethics and souls along with the
> 26%.
> Salman
> ________________________________
> From: Wahaj us Siraj [ mailto:wahaj@...]
> <mailto:wahaj@...%5d><mailto:wahaj@...]>
> Sent: Friday, December 08, 2006 11:30 AM
> To: wahaj@...<mailto:wahaj@...> ; 'Ansar'; 'Jehan Ara';
> abutt@...<mailto:abutt@...>
> Cc: Ashraf.Kapadia@...<mailto:Ashraf.Kapadia@...>;
> 'Nadeem A. Malik'; 'Owais Zaidi'; 'Jawwad Farid';
> danish@...<mailto:danish@...>; '
> Saeed@...<mailto:Saeed@...>'; 'Muhammad Zia ullah';
> danish.q@...<mailto:danish.q@...>; 'Khawaja Saad'; 'Salman
> Ansari'
> Subject: RE: PTA/FIA Raids an Islamabad Software Company and Puts CEO
> behind bars......
> Ansar,
> I know these guys. They're just young CS/IT professionals. Atif, their
> founder is doing a fellowship in Stanford. Their DSL link was through us
> and this was a 512 k/12 Gb connection, mostly under utilized – not
> suitable at all to do VOIP terminations. They might have been doing some
> interoffice (Islamabad-CA) communication through IP, PC to PC, etc., but
> this is not 'illegal' and PTA's Determination also exist on this. So VIOP
> packets might have been flowing on their link but that is common on every
> broadband connection today. Even PTCL/PTA highups have IP phones at their
> homes.
> Termination of international calls through VOIP requires either
> connectivity with PSTN or GSM gateway. Cogilent's office had only 4 phone
> lines from PTCL including one fax. No commercial termination of calls can
> take place on these four lines. PTCL would also have record of these
> outgoing calls and they can easily find out whether CLIs of these calls
> were recorded/displayed at any numbers while terminating international
> calls.
> No GSM gateway was found in Cogilent's office as well. So no GSM/PSTN
> connectivity is established with VOIP. All previous raids of PTA have
> found PSTN/GSM gateways connected with IP but Cogilent had nothing of this
> sort. Even a small call termination setup required to terminate few
> thousands of minutes per month requires min of 20 PSTN or GSM lines
> connected to a gateway.
> Cogilent was using an Asterisk server (Linux running SIP and other VOIP
> protocols) as office PABX which many office do around the globe. Even we
> use the same setup for our inter-office communication.
> PTA has been silent on famous illegal call terminations of hundreds of
> millions minutes by NTC for more that two years, despite the hue and cry
> in media. They couldn't dare raid NTC premises and arrest men in khakis.
> PTCL has been doing the same and still doing today, brining 40-50 million
> minutes of underhand grey traffic every month. PTA knows this. We've
> publicly pointed this out in a large meeting of PTA, PTCL and industry and
> this was recorded in minutes of the meeting by PTA. But PTA didn't dare
> raid ITMC, RWP, confiscate switch and arrest the officers and SEVPs there.
> Large Cellular operators are doing same but no action taken.
> This is worst case of abuse of public powers against small and fragile
> companies. Most sad part of this is that PTA has done so on the request
> and complaint of PTCL and conducted a joint raid. No law or constitution
> allows, PTCL, a private operator, to be a part of such effort.
> We must invoke media and legal proceedings. PASHA and Call Centers should
> also raise voice with full force. We're written to Minister for IT for an
> urgent meeting and waiting for a response. If nothing comes up, young
> fellows in IT companies and call centers here are gearing up to do a
> demonstration in front of the Ministry of IT next week.
> We're discussing with lawyers here. Cogilent had no backing and poor guys
> are running here and there, their families screaming. First priority is to
> get Faisal bailed out of the jail and then a counter case for abuse of
> public powers most probably through a Writ Petition in the High Court.
> Kind regards…Wahaj
> ________________________________
> From: Ansar [ mailto:ansar@...]
> <mailto:ansar@...%5d><mailto:ansar@...]>
> Sent: Friday, December 08, 2006 10:32 AM
> To: wahaj@...<mailto:wahaj@...>; 'Jehan Ara';
> abutt@...<mailto:abutt@...>
> Subject: RE: PTA/FIA Raids an Islamabad Software Company and Puts CEO
> behind bars......
> I think this time a joint concerted effort is required to try to bring the
> PTA/PTCL etc. out of stone ages. A case should be filed and heavy
> compensation should be demanded from the culprits for them to refrain from
> such damaging acts if we feel Cogilent Solutions is not guilty. Let me
> know your thoughts on this. Media can be invoked for clarification besides
> legal proceedings. I am ready to pay my share for such cause.
> Rgds/Ansar
> ________________________________
> From: Wahaj us Siraj [ mailto:wahaj@...]
> <mailto:wahaj@...%5d><mailto:wahaj@...]>
> Sent: Thursday, December 07, 2006 12:12 PM
> To: wahaj@...<mailto:wahaj@...> ; 'Amer Shafique'; 'Luqman
> Kamil'; operators@...<mailto:operators@...>;
> akarim@...<mailto:akarim@...>;
> ajmal.ansari@...<mailto:ajmal.ansari@...>;
> shahid.bhutto@...<mailto:shahid.bhutto@...>;
> mukhtar@...<mailto:mukhtar@...>;
> asad@...<mailto:asad@...>;
> yousaf@...<mailto:yousaf@...>;
> reneec@...<mailto:reneec@...>;
> peter.yeow@...<mailto:peter.yeow@...>; 'Maj Gen (Rtd.)
> Faisal Alavi'; 'Wajahat';
> george.hashim@...<mailto:george.hashim@...>;
> 'Jamshed Masood'; 'Muhammad Ali Qazi';
> Kashif@...<mailto:Kashif@...>; 'Shahid Firoz'; 'Shahid
> Naeem Butt'; 'BRIG SALEEM'; 'Azmat Ali';
> asif.rumi@...<mailto:asif.rumi@...>; 'Adnan Asdar';
> 'Kamil Khan'; rs@...<mailto:rs@...>; 'Amjad Farooq
> Alvi'; bas@...<mailto:bas@...>;
> sq@...<mailto:sq@...>;
> affan.khan@...<mailto:affan.khan@...>;
> st@...<mailto:st@...>;
> members@...<mailto:members@...>;
> operators@...<mailto:operators@...>; Usman . ; 'Dr. Irfan
> zafar'; ak@...<mailto:ak@...>; 'Yusuf Hussain'; 'Salman
> Ansari'; 'Talib Baloch'; arana@...<mailto:arana@...>;
> akazi@...<mailto:akazi@...>;
> owais.khan@...<mailto:owais.khan@...>;
> umar.usmani@...<mailto:umar.usmani@...>;
> tanveer@...<mailto:tanveer@...>;
> mshahid@...<mailto:mshahid@...>;
> hamid@...<mailto:hamid@...>;
> nasir@...<mailto:nasir@...>;
> wali@...<mailto:wali@...>;
> sazim@...<mailto:sazim@...>;
> ateeq@...<mailto:ateeq@...>;
> nasser.lone@...<mailto:nasser.lone@...>;
> muneer.farooqui@...<mailto:muneer.farooqui@...>;
> jhumra@...<mailto:jhumra@...>;
> asim.saber@...<mailto:asim.saber@...>;
> masood@...<mailto:masood@...>;
> mziaee@...<mailto:mziaee@...>;
> maniya@...<mailto:maniya@...>;
> abutt@...<mailto:abutt@...>;
> dyl@...<mailto:dyl@...>;
> fendi@...<mailto:fendi@...>;
> naved@...<mailto:naved@...>;
> irfanfarooq@...<mailto:irfanfarooq@...>;
> farook@...<mailto:farook@...>;
> farooq@...<mailto:farooq@...>;
> farrukh@...<mailto:farrukh@...>;
> farrkuhjunaidy@...<mailto:farrkuhjunaidy@...>;
> wmalik@...<mailto:wmalik@...>;
> adnan.husain@...<mailto:adnan.husain@...>;
> adnantahir@...<mailto:adnantahir@...>;
> 'Ansar'; ak@...<mailto:ak@...>;
> operators@...<mailto:operators@...>; 'Awais Leghari';
> 'Noor-ud-Din Baqai MMember Telecom''; 'Farrakh Qayyum';
> khakwan@...<mailto:khakwan@...>;
> faslam@...<mailto:faslam@...>; 'Rashid Khan';
> 'Director Telecom, Mushtaq Ahmed Bhatti';
> rehan@...<mailto:rehan@...>
> Subject: RE: PTA/FIA Raids an Islamabad Software Company and Puts CEO
> behind bars......
> ________________________________
> From: Wahaj us Siraj [ mailto:wahaj@...]
> <mailto:wahaj@...%5d><mailto:wahaj@...]>
> Sent: Wednesday, December 06, 2006 4:37 PM
> To: 'Amer Shafique'; 'Luqman Kamil';
> operators@...<mailto:operators@...>;
> akarim@...<mailto:akarim@...>;
> ajmal.ansari@...<mailto:ajmal.ansari@...>;
> shahid.bhutto@...<mailto:shahid.bhutto@...>;
> mukhtar@...<mailto:mukhtar@...>;
> asad@...<mailto:asad@...>;
> yousaf@...<mailto:yousaf@...>;
> reneec@...<mailto:reneec@...>;
> peter.yeow@...<mailto:peter.yeow@...>; 'Maj Gen (Rtd.)
> Faisal Alavi'; 'Wajahat';
> george.hashim@...<mailto:george.hashim@...>;
> 'Jamshed Masood'; 'Muhammad Ali Qazi';
> Kashif@...<mailto:Kashif@...>; 'Shahid Firoz'; 'Shahid
> Naeem Butt'; 'BRIG SALEEM'; 'Azmat Ali';
> asif.rumi@...<mailto:asif.rumi@...>; 'Adnan Asdar';
> 'Kamil Khan'; rs@...<mailto:rs@...>; 'Amjad Farooq
> Alvi'; bas@...<mailto:bas@...>;
> sq@...<mailto:sq@...>;
> affan.khan@...<mailto:affan.khan@...>;
> st@...<mailto:st@...>;
> operations@...<mailto:operations@...>;
> members@...<mailto:members@...>
> Subject: PTA/FIA Raids an Islamabad Software Company and Puts CEO behind
> bars......
> On a complaint filed by PTCL, PTA swiftly acts and arrests CEO of a
> software company located in Software Technology Park, Islamabad on alleged
> VOIP call termination. Here's the other part of story.
> Kind regards…Wahaj
> ________________________________
> From: mumtaz.atif@... <mailto:mumtaz.atif@...> [
> mailto:mumtaz.atif@...]
> <mailto:mumtaz.atif@...%5d><mailto:mumtaz.atif@...]> On Behalf
> Of Atif Mumtaz
> Sent: Tuesday, December 05, 2006 8:45 PM
> To: jehan@...<mailto:jehan@...>
> Cc: wahaj@...<mailto:wahaj@...>;
> aamatin@...<mailto:aamatin@...>;
> md@...<mailto:md@...>; Ahmad Jawad
> Subject: Request Assistance from PASHA
> Asalam Alekum,
> I wanted to share a recent harrowing experience that my company is going
> through in Pakistan. First a bit of a background.
> I co-founded an internet Startup company, called Cogilent Solutions (
> www.cogilent.com<http://www.cogilent.com/>
> <http://www.cogilent.com/><http://www.cogilent.com/> ), in Islamabad,
> which runs a very successful job portal in the country called BrightSpyre
> ( www.BrightSpyre.com<http://www.brightspyre.com/>
> <http://www.brightspyre.com/><http://www.brightspyre.com/> ). Among our
> innovations, we were one of the first companies in the world to launch an
> integrated Voice Resume system based on VoIP technologies. And our
> solution is being used by companies like TRG and others to hire quality
> talent for their call centers in Pakistan.
> ...
> [Message clipped]

_________________________________________________________________
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----- Original Message -----

From: Wahaj us Siraj

To: 'Ansar' ; 'abdullah' ; 'Shahzad Ahmad'

Cc: 'Mosharraf Zaidi' ; 'Yusuf Hussain' ; salman@... ; 'Saad Rahman' ; 'asad karim' ; 'Saad Ansar i' ; mtaheer@... ; 'Zubair' ; 'Ashar Iqbal' ; 'INFO' ; operators@... ; members@... ; ak@... ; 'Asad Karim' ; Omar.Saeed@... ; 'Khawaja Saad' ; danish.q@... ; 'Muhammad Zia ullah' ; 'Saeed@...' ; danish@... ; 'Jawwad Far id' ; Ashraf.Kapadia@... ; 'Member IT (Tariq B adsha)' ; 'Yusuf Hussain' ; 'Jahan Ara' ; abutt@... ; owais.zaidi@... ; 'Imran Akhtar Shah' ; amumtaz@... ; pakistanictpolicy@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Saturday, December 16, 2006 7:06 PM

Subject: RE: Campaign against continued oppression!

Dear all,

 

We had a meeting with the Minister for IT today and presented the following charter of damands:

 

Illegal Raid and Arrest of CEO Cogilent Solutions on Alleged VOIP Termination

 

Industry Charter of Demands for Ministry of IT

 

by

 

Association of Call Center Operators (ACCO)

Pakistan Software Houses Association (PASHA)

Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan (ISPAK)

 

 

1.         Faisal Chohan, CEO, Cogilent be released immediately.

2.         Disciplinary action against officials of PTCL and PTA who lodged the fake complaint and made an innocent professional to remain in jail for many days.

3.         Compensation to Cogilent Systems for the loss of reputation and business.

4.         Compensation to Faisal Chohan and his family for the suffering, agony, and mental torture to his wife that has led to death of his to-be-born child.

5.         Policy Directive from MoIT to PTA be immediately issued on following:

a.         to issue an order to allow inter-office VOIP and PC to Phone use for non-commercial use. This would be in continuation of PTA’s Determination of 16 November 2002 on IP Telephony-Net2Phone Unblocking of Web Site.

b.         Re-defining raiding mechanism by PTA/FIA. PTCL, as a complainant should not be part of any raid. Joint Industry Nomination by sough by the MoIT and Industry’s representative should accompany such future raids.

c.         Re-define VOIP office to office policy in consultation with industry.

 

On the directions of MOIT, PTA issued a letter to FIA for withdrawl of the case. FIA is completing the legal formalities and would submit the case to the court. Hopefully, on Monday, inshallah, case would be withdrawn in the court and Faisal would be out of prison.

 

Kind regards…Wahaj

---

From: Ansar [mailto:ansar@...]
Sent: Saturday, December 16, 2006 7:03 PM
To: 'abdullah'; 'Shahzad Ahmad'
Cc: 'Mosharraf Zaidi'; 'Yusuf Hussain'; salman@...; 'Saad Rahman'; 'asad karim'; 'Saad Ansar i'; mtaheer@...; 'Zubair'; 'Ashar Iqbal'; 'INFO'; operators@...; members@...; ak@...; 'Asad Karim'; Omar.Saeed@...; 'Khawaja Saad'; danish.q@...; 'Muhammad Zia ullah'; 'Saeed@...'; danish@...; 'Jawwad Far id'; Ashraf.Kapadia@...; 'Member IT (Tariq B adsha)'; 'Yusuf Hussain'; 'Jahan Ara'; abutt@...; owais.zaidi@...; 'Imran Akhtar Shah'; wahaj@...; amumtaz@...; pakistanictpolicy@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: Campaign against continued oppression!

 

Inshallah Faisal will be out on Monday. We must carry same unity and collectively work to get Cogilent the Punitive damages as suggested by Jawwad. The first objective will inshallah be achieved on Monday but this must not end here. Business friendly legislation and Punitive damages for Cogilent should be the next target from Monday onwards with same momentum, unity and solidarity.

 

For Industry’s survival, we ALL should collectively engage top-of-the-line lawyer to burry the evil acts of varied magnitude we face time to time.

 

Ansar

 

 

---

From: abdullah [mailto:abutt@...]
Sent: Saturday, December 16, 2006 6:47 PM
To: Shahzad Ahmad
Cc: Mosharraf Zaidi; Yusuf Hussain; salman@...; Saad Rahman; asad karim; Saad Ansar i; mtaheer@...; Zubair; Ashar Iqbal; INFO; operators@...; members@...; ak@...; Asad Karim; Omar.Saeed@...; Khawaja Saad; danish.q@...; Muhammad Zia ullah; Saeed@...; danish@...; Jawwad Far id; Ashraf.Kapadia@...; Member IT (Tariq B adsha); Yusuf Hussain; Jahan Ara; Ansar; abutt@...; owais.zaidi@...; Imran Akhtar Shah; wahaj@...; amumtaz@...; pakistanictpolicy@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: Campaign against continued oppression!

 

 

Dear all, pl note that a successfull meeting was held with it minister and reps from PASHA, ACCO. ISPAK, Minister has taken stern action, and appologize for this act, promissed to compenate the company, penalize the mis informer that is PTCL, during All this activity all leading tv channels were invited, there was later a press conference on this incident by industry reps, later media cornered the minister for 20 minutes took all of this on camera.

 

FIA pta has given withdrawl letters, wahaj is very activly pursuing the release process, uptill now we have come to know that by Monday Faisal will be out.

 

pl watch tonight ATV, AAJ, GEO for complete report at 9 PM news, Thanks.

 

Abdullah Butt

President,

ACCO

 

________________ Original message ________________

Subject: Campaign against continued oppression!

Author: "Shahzad Ahmad" <shahzad@...>

Date: 16th December 2006 2:16:7

 

Please join us in "campaign against continued oppression" by the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) against ICT Community in Pakistan.

It is now an established fact that Cogilent is NOT at fault but its CEO is still in jail and PTA and FIA are not accepting their mistake. Faisal has also been refused a bail from the court.

This demands public action. Action by all concerned citizens, IT professionals, civil society organizations, human rights activists and media. We wish to launch this peaceful campaign to seek support of the people for the cause.

Please use following methods to highlight the issue in the masses and express your concern to those who matter:

- Use your mobile phone address book to SMS your friends and show your annoyance on this vehement negligence of PTA and FIA.

- Write short letter/email message expressing your concern to Federal Minister IT, Minister of State IT, Secretary IT and PTA Chairman. Their email addresses are:

Federal Minister for IT: aleghari@...

Minister of State for IT: stateminister@...

Secretary IT: secretary@...

PTA Chairman: chairman@...

You can also write your blogs about how you feel about it and add your comments at the website of Pakistan ICT Policy Monitors Network http://pakistanictpolicy.bytesforall.net

Every single SMS and every single email will count. Please help. Everyone's stakes are at risk!

For more information on the issue:

People outside Pakistan can access: http://wheelofjustice.blogspot.com

People inside Pakistan may access this banned blog site through http://www.inblogs.net/wheelofjustice

 

Shahzad

 Bytesforall.org/Pakistan ICT Policy Monitors Network

 

Dear Saad,

 

This indeed is good suggestion. We also discussed this and some other possibilities last night. We were in consultation with Atif Mumtaz and quite a few others as well.

 

Atif Mumtaz has setup this blog at: http://wheelofjustice.blogspot.com/ and it has all sequence of happenings so far. Though it is not accessible from Pakistan but being based out of Sweden you will be able to access it. In Pakistan, we access it bypassing PTCL ;) Everybody in Pakistan, can access it through http://www.inblogs.net/. There are some pictures of the peaceful demonstration as well.

 

First thing is first, Saad, if you can write then draft 2-3 variants of short powerful letters/messages as advised by Salman sab also, and lets everyone start sending these to media and also these senior management level folks sitting in ministry and authority.   

 

We are also trying to put up an online petition. If we can gather few thousand signatures it will help I think.

 

The main idea is to get the attention of those who matter and then hopefully things will be resolved.

 

Yes, as was said by Yusuf sab of PSEB to possibly work towards changing the rules or further clarify the rules, so all of us should continue pushing for people-friendly, people-centered policy legislations and rules/regulations.

 

Remember Folks, a lot of voices will create noise, and noise is what needed right now... so please raise your voice everyone!...

 

B4A team http://pakistanictpolicy.bytesforall.net/ and Association for Progressive Communications www.apc.org  is with you all in this endeavor.

 

best wishes

 

Shahzad

 

 

----- Original Message -----

From: Saad Rahman

To: pakistanictpolicy@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Saturday, December 16, 2006 3:47 AM

Subject: [pakistanictpolicy] Re: [pashagroup] RE: Peaceful protest against illegal Raid on Cogilent Solutions

Asalam Alekum,

These are quite good ideas. If any kind of help is required to put
forward "The Awakening" of the Middle Class than I am all for it. Some
solid things to do would be to compile a complete story event by event
(can be compiled from the series of emails) and present it to people.
Also the same can be forwarded to magazines/newspapers/TV Channels
etc. If someone is working on this than I am all out to help them
write and organize things. With some past experience in journalism and
marketing I might be of some help.

Regards,
Saad Rahman
Linköping, Sweden
http://www.saadrahman.com

--- In pakistanictpolicy@yahoogroups.com, Mosharraf Zaidi
<mosharrafz@...> wrote:
>
>
>
> I agree with Wahaj's approach and I offer the following thoughts.
>
> 1) As a policy hack, I have a good grasp of the overarching
governance issues in IT policy--but I am all at sea when it comes
> to understanding the specifics. The technical detail that
professional colleagues talk about are Greek to ordinary observors.
> Someone needs to break down this information into digestible bites
that laymen can consume.
>
> 2) The audience for easily comprehensible descriptions of both the
overarching context of IT and telecom policy and specific
> incidents like Cogilent's need to be clear. Community, constituency,
client and context. The Pasha and ICT Policy forums address
> the issues of community. And I am sure companies are more than
capable of handling thier clients. But I am afraid we fall short in
> understanding our constituency and our context.
>
> 3) Constituency: Middle class readers of newspapers and watchers of
television need emotive stimuli in universally understandable
> language. I have yet to see the human element of the Cogilent story.
Did the arrested entrepreneur come to Pakistan, leaving
> behind a lucrative job in Silicon Valley? Does he have kids? A wife?
Old parents? This is the stuff that gets newspaper editors
> excited. Not the wrong IP address.
>
> 4) Context: Who is capable of making the most noise in Pakistan? I'd
offer opposition politicians as my first choice--and
> how many have we engaged so far? What about less noisy
demonstrations? How many DMG officers understand the issues?
> Ministry of Finance wallahs? Has someone tried to talk to Salman
Shah? Or Ashfaque Khan? Please understand, one doesn't need to
> like one's context--but we do need to get it. Decision-making in
Pakistan is based on three things. Patronage, profit and pressure.
> Middle class entrepreneurs don't do (or shouldn't be doing)
patronage. And they already try to make honest profits. So the only
> legitimate option is pressure. External--politicians.
Internal--bureaucrats.
>
> If Wahaj and Salman saahib can put a nuts and bolts presentation
together that can easily explain the larger issue and the specific
> incident I'll be happy to help arrange meetings with some of these
groups as soon as we're ready with a presentation. Let's not be
> content if and when the incident is resolved. As long as the
overarching policy environment remains the same, the next trip up the
> creek is not far.
>
> warm regards,
>
> Mosharraf Zaidi
>
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> > To: jawwad@...; wahaj@...; shakir@...; pashagroup@yahoogroups.com
> > CC: amumtaz@...; namalik@...; imran@...; owais.zaidi@...;
abutt@...; ansar@...; jehan@...; md@...; tbadsha@...;
Ashraf.Kapadia@...; danish@...; muhammad.ziaullah@...; danish.q@...;
saad@...; Omar.Saeed@...; akarim@...; ak@...; members@...;
operators@...; info@...; Ashar@...; zubair@...; mtaheer@...;
pakistanictpolicy@yahoogroups.com; pakgrid@yahoogroups.com;
saansari@...; asadkarim@...; jawad@...
> > From: salman@...
> > Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2006 17:54:27 +0500
> > Subject: [pakistanictpolicy] RE: [pashagroup] RE: Peaceful protest
against illegal Raid on Cogilent Solutions: Convergence - what an irony
> >
> > This news item seems to be the only mention about the protest in
the print media, though it wrongly gives me credit for being there and
making a statement. I was not there (perhaps should have been!) and
obviously did not give and interview. The statement was perhaps picked
off from my e-mail I sent to the group!
> > Maybe after Wahaj's shocking revelation of the incompetence of the
people who got this going in the first place, some sense may prevail.
My statement regarding the inability of the PTCL to understand what
Internet is all about stands justified, now that they cannot even
attribute an IP address to the right owner.
> > Salman
> > ________________________________
> > From: Jawwad Farid [mailto:jawwad@...]
> > Sent: Thursday, December 14, 2006 4:56 PM
> > To: wahaj@...; 'Shakir Husain'; pashagroup@yahoogroups.com
> > Cc: 'Salman Ansari'; amumtaz@...; 'Nadeem A. Malik'; 'Imran Akhtar
Shah'; owais.zaidi@...; abutt@...; 'Ansar'; 'Jahan Ara'; 'Yusuf
Hussain'; 'Member IT (Tariq Badsha)'; Ashraf.Kapadia@...; danish@...;
'Muhammad Zia ullah'; danish.q@...; 'Khawaja Saad'; Omar.Saeed@...;
'Asad Karim'; ak@...; members@...; operators@...; 'INFO'; 'Ashar
Iqbal'; 'Zubair'; mtaheer@...; pakistanictpolicy@yahoogroups.com;
pakgrid@yahoogroups.com; 'Saad Ansari'; 'asad karim'; 'Ahmed Jawad'
> > Subject: RE: [pashagroup] RE: Peaceful protest against illegal
Raid on Cogilent Solutions: Convergence - what an irony
> > Punitive damages – what is the cash that PTCL carries on its
balance sheet. If Cogilent can get a good lawyer they wouldn't need an
IPO, an out of court settlement with PTCL/Etisilat should do the trick.
> > Jawwad
> > ________________________________
> > From: Wahaj us Siraj [mailto:wahaj@...]
> > Sent: Thursday, December 14, 2006 4:43 PM
> > To: 'Shakir Husain'; pashagroup@yahoogroups.com
> > Cc: 'Salman Ansari'; amumtaz@...; 'Nadeem A. Malik'; 'Imran Akhtar
Shah'; owais.zaidi@...; abutt@...; 'Ansar'; 'Jahan Ara'; 'Yusuf
Hussain'; 'Member IT (Tariq Badsha)'; Ashraf.Kapadia@...; 'Jawwad
Farid'; danish@...; 'Muhammad Zia ullah'; danish.q@...; 'Khawaja
Saad'; Omar.Saeed@...; 'Asad Karim'; ak@...; members@...;
operators@...; 'INFO'; 'Ashar Iqbal'; 'Zubair'; mtaheer@...;
pakistanictpolicy@yahoogroups.com; pakgrid@yahoogroups.com; 'Saad
Ansari'; 'asad karim'; 'Ahmed Jawad'
> > Subject: RE: [pashagroup] RE: Peaceful protest against illegal
Raid on Cogilent Solutions: Convergence - what an irony
> > Dear all,
> > Another very shocking development. It's lately discovered that
PTA/FIA has raided the wrong office and premises. In the FIR of FIA,
IP address 203.99.57.224/29 is mentioned was not in use by Cogilent
Solutions. Actual IP address of Cogilent Solutions was
203.99.57.232/29. The IP No. 203.99.57.224/29 mentioned in FIR is in
use by some other customer.
> > This shows that PTA/FIA team has infact raided the wrong place,
wrong company without investigations and due diligence. They've nabbed
wrong and innocent person and severely damaged reputation of the
company. Poor Faisal is in jail for last 10 days and now he's proven
innocent. Let's hope that he gets out on bail tomorrow.
> > Kind regards…Wahaj
> > ________________________________
> > From: Shakir Husain [mailto:shakir@...]
> > Sent: Thursday, December 14, 2006 3:27 PM
> > To: pashagroup@yahoogroups.com
> > Cc: wahaj@...; Salman Ansari; amumtaz@...; Nadeem A. Malik; Imran
Akhtar Shah; owais.zaidi@...; abutt@...; Ansar; Jahan Ara; Yusuf
Hussain; Member IT (Tariq Badsha); Ashraf.Kapadia@...; Jawwad Farid;
danish@...; Muhammad Zia ullah; danish.q@...; Khawaja Saad;
Omar.Saeed@...; Asad Karim; ak@...; members@...; operators@...; INFO;
Ashar Iqbal; Zubair; mtaheer@...; pakistanictpolicy@yahoogroups.com;
pakgrid@yahoogroups.com; Saad Ansari; asad karim
> > Subject: Re: [pashagroup] RE: Peaceful protest against illegal
Raid on Cogilent Solutions: Convergence - what an irony
> > i have a few suggestions for the poor folks at Cogilent, PASHA
members, and generally people who are trying to run serious
businesses in the land of the pure.
> > 1) a hunger strike outside the MOITT offices with the press
covering it.
> > 2) unleashing a media blitz - i'd be more than happy to help out.
> > 3) a legal defense and damages against PTA for loss of revenues
and punitive damages.
> > 4) bring on Shaukat Aziz as a partner for your businesses - 10
percent should be good.
> > 5) get a retired army general and put him on your board.
> > 6) move your business to sharjah, vietnam, malaysia, oman, or
South Africa...
> > Saeed, as for your email on NADRA....i can assure you they could
terminate voice calls in bulk and no one could touch them!
> > Regards,
> > Shakir Husain
> > On 12/14/06, Saeed Qadri <saeed@...<mailto:saeed@...>> wrote:
> > OK: here is something very "interesting". NADRA our biggest IT
employer is procuring ATA devices and VOIP phones. Attached is the
scan of the tender that came out today. I wonder how legal that would
be. Maybe the next raid will be at NADRA's offices it is also
conveniently located near PTA like Cogilent.
> > Saeed Qadri
> > ________________________________
> > From: Wahaj us Siraj [mailto:wahaj@...<mailto:wahaj@...>]
> > Sent: Wednesday, December 13, 2006 5:39 PM
> > To: 'Salman Ansari'; amumtaz@...<mailto:amumtaz@...>
> > Cc: 'Nadeem A. Malik'; 'Imran Akhtar Shah';
owais.zaidi@...<mailto:owais.zaidi@...>; abutt@...<mailto:abutt@...>;
'Ansar'; 'Jahan Ara'; 'Yusuf Hussain'; 'Member IT (Tariq Badsha)';
Ashraf.Kapadia@...<mailto:Ashraf.Kapadia@...>; 'Jawwad Farid';
danish@...<mailto:danish@...>; 'Saeed@...<mailto:Saeed@...>';
'Muhammad Zia ullah'; danish.q@...<mailto:danish.q@...>; 'Khawaja
Saad'; Omar.Saeed@...<mailto:Omar.Saeed@...>; 'Asad Karim';
ak@...<mailto:ak@...>; members@...<mailto:members@...>;
operators@...<mailto:operators@...>; 'INFO'; 'Ashar Iqbal'; 'Zubair';
mtaheer@...<mailto:mtaheer@...>;
pakistanictpolicy@yahoogroups.com<mailto:pakistanictpolicy@yahoogroups.com>;
pakgrid@yahoogroups.com<mailto:pakgrid@yahoogroups.com>; 'Saad
Ansari'; 'Imran Akhtar Shah'; 'asad karim'; 'Ansar'
> > Subject: RE: Peaceful protest against illegal Raid on Cogilent
Solutions: Convergence - what an irony
> > This is the text of FIR:
> > FIA Crimes Circle, RWP
> > FIR No. 24/2006
> > Date: 5.12.06
> > Complainant: Mr.Sajjad Awan, Director PTA
> > Against: M/s Cogilent, STP-II, F-5, Islamabad
> > Today 5th December, 2006 written complaint from Mr. Sajjad Latif
Awan, Zonal Director (Enforcement) PTA Rawalpindi was received
addressed to Additional Director FIA Crime Circle as under-Pakistan
Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has received a report from Manager
Network Security & Surveillance\ (NSS) of Pakistan Telecommunication
Company Limited (PTCL) Islamabad dated 30th November, 2006 that some
illegal VOIP has been detected against IPs
203.99.57.224/29<http://203.99.57.224/29>. The Manager NSS requested
PTA to provide assistance in obtaining the final destination of the
IPs reported (Copy attached as Annex-X). the same was provided
accordingly (Attached Annex-Y). In response of the information above
PTA has received a complain from Manager Network Security &
Surveillance (NSS) of Pakistan Telecommunication Limited (PTCL) that
M/S Cogilent is involved transaction of International Voice traffic by
establishing and authorized computer based PABX/Gateway exchange at
205D, 2nd Floor, Evacuee Trust Complex, Agha Khan Road, F-5/1,
Islamabad. The complainant has further submitted relevant analytical
record of IP's though which the voice is being used internationally.
By looking into the record submitted the Manager NNS and the info
collected from Web Site of Company
(www.cogilent.com<http://www.cogilent.com/>) and having been satisfied
that the illegal business for wrongful gains and loss to Govt.
exchequer has occurred, undersigned believes, that is a prima-facie
case of violation of, in addition to others. Section 31 of Pakistan
Telecommunication (R-Organization) Act 1996, Section 36/37 of ETO 2002
and Section 25 C of Telegraph Act, 1885. It is therefore requested the
necessary investigation be carried out in the greater interest of
service and save Govt. from further loss of revenue. The cop of
complaint received from PTCL alongwith submitted record mentioned
above is attached for ready reference. The team of PTA and PTCL will
be available for any assistance required by FIA round the clock.
> > As per Sensitivity of the case and a risk for leakage of
information which could alert the accused and early action will be
highly appreciated S/d—Sajjad Latif Awan, Zonal Director
(Enforcement), Rawalpindi. ACTION BY FIA: From the contents of
complaint reproduced above. Prima-facie offences under section 31 TRA,
1996, 36/36, E.T.O 2002, 25C Telegraph Act, 1885, 34/420 PPC appear to
have been committed. Accordingly a case is registered under the order
of the Competent Authority. Copies of FIR being sent to quarter
concerned. After completing necessary formalities raid will be
conducted in collaboration with PTA/PTCL officers for recovery of
device/apparatus illegally installed/reportedly functioning.
> > ________________________________
> > From: Salman Ansari [mailto:salman@...<mailto:salman@...>]
> > Sent: Wednesday, December 13, 2006 5:19 PM
> > To: amumtaz@...<mailto:amumtaz@...>
> > Cc: wahaj@...<mailto:wahaj@...>; 'Nadeem A. Malik'; 'Imran Akhtar
Shah'; owais.zaidi@...<mailto:owais.zaidi@...>;
abutt@...<mailto:abutt@...>; 'Ansar'; 'Jahan Ara'; 'Yusuf Hussain';
'Member IT (Tariq Badsha)';
Ashraf.Kapadia@...<mailto:Ashraf.Kapadia@...>; 'Jawwad Farid';
danish@...<mailto:danish@...>; ' Saeed@...<mailto:Saeed@...>';
'Muhammad Zia ullah'; danish.q@...<mailto:danish.q@...>; 'Khawaja
Saad'; Omar.Saeed@...<mailto:Omar.Saeed@...>; 'Asad Karim';
ak@...<mailto:ak@...>; members@...<mailto:members@...>;
operators@...<mailto:operators@...>; 'INFO'; 'Ashar Iqbal'; 'Zubair';
mtaheer@...<mailto:mtaheer@...>;
pakistanictpolicy@yahoogroups.com<mailto:pakistanictpolicy@yahoogroups.com>;
pakgrid@yahoogroups.com<mailto:pakgrid@yahoogroups.com>; 'Saad
Ansari'; 'Imran Akhtar Shah'; 'asad karim'; 'Ansar'
> > Subject: Peaceful protest against illegal Raid on Cogilent
Solutions: Convergence - what an irony
> > It is indeed an irony that this very painful episode is causing
'Convergence' of another kind in ICT. For a change, people from the
Telecom sector (all varieties) and the IT sector are coming together
for a common cause. I hope that this unity continues for the
betterment of IT and Telecoms in Pakistan.
> > I hope that sense will prevail and we can bring the suffering to
an end once the PTA can be convinced about the tragedy of this
particular action. Though, I can understand their perspective in
carrying out this 'raid' since they have been chasing ghosts and
tracking down illegal operators (mostly at the behest of PTCL) and it
is important that the professionals convince the Chairman PTA so that
the lower staff whose wrong conclusions have led to this situation, do
not prevail. My fear is that unless this is handled carefully, the
people at Cogilent will suffer, becoming unwitting pawns in the middle.
> > Unfortunately the big fish who have minted millions are scot-free
and never touched. The press release is not correct as this avoids
mentioning the facts and parrots out incorrect data. I hope that the
Chairman PTA will go through the case with a tooth comb.
> > In my personal view it is the PTCL which should be charge sheeted
and brought to justice this time, to ensure that they stop pulling the
ICT industry down just to overcome their own incompetence in being
able to handle their business in a competitive environment. It is they
who filed the complaint in the first place, gave the so called proof
to the PTA and then accompanied the FIA into the Miami Vice type of a
bust of this software house.
> > The issue is also the lack of understanding of the term VoIP by
all concerned (as Ansar mildly put it, difference between 'voice' and
'speech'): PTA, Ministry and worst of all the PTCL. This term has been
tainted by its misuse by everyone concerned for defining illegal call
termination into Pakistan. Perhaps we can have this event bring this
into clarity for the PTA and others that everything today is IP (all
new operators in Pakistan use IP equipment). The same is used by
Skype, MSN, in all voice applications today. There are thousands of
people (like me) in Pakistan who use this and are by the same flawed
judgment, are common criminals.
> > All LDIs, LL, WLL, new cellular and Optical fibre systems
deployments use NGN equipment. Almost all applications being developed
use IP: VoIP, Video over IP, IPTV…these need products to be developed
by our industry. I do not agree with PSEB that the PTA would need to
be asked before someone can do any development in this domain. We just
need to get this issue sorted out once and for all.
> > The charges are so flawed that even the items mentioned in the
charges (see PSEB note) are perhaps just to influence the judge and
show this to be a heinous crime. The Telegraph Act of 1885 was
superseded by the Telecom act of 1996 (in this context), the mention
of the clauses of the Electronic Transaction Ordinance have no
relevance to the issue at all. Was the mention of the Pakistan Penal
Code necessary so that there is some reason to hold the person without
correct charges? Were all these items mentioned, as the Police throws
in the kitchen sink in FIRs, to be able to drag the people through a mess?
> > I would like the Chairman PTA to please ask for explanation from
his staff on this issue. This is also perhaps one of the reasons why
most of the really guilty people prosecuted for illegal traffic, get away?
> > Almost 90% of all international calls that come in via ALL
operators including PTCL, do not show these with international number
prefixes: either the + or the 00 is dropped, so that they can avoid
the APC to the LL operators or paying the PTA for the USF. I wonder
how many of these have been charged or convicted? These have been the
biggest 'terminators' of the so-called illegal traffic. The PTCL
itself broke the PTA law by cheating and selling rates into Pakistan
at less then 5 cents when the rate set by the PTA was over 10 cents.
Was the PTCL fined or penalized for this 'theft' and flouting the PTA
and Government Policy?
> > This is where the millions of dollars have been siphoned off not
by people like Cogilent.
> > After the excellent decision by the PTA to reduce the accounting
rate to 2.5 cents the only people who can make money are the 'legal'
operators not the pirates. Just do the numbers. Perhaps the focus of
the team should now finally shift to the real gold mine.
> > I would also request the Chairman PTA to review the press release
with the facts on the ground see the mass of e-mails of the people in
the industry and data about what the raiding party actually got hold
of and how they interpreted it. Just start from the simple fact that:
> > 1. There were 4 telephone lines and PTCL should be asked to
present detailed bills for the millions of rupees worth of damages caused.
> > 2. There was NO voice gateway as the pirates use
> > 3. The website of Cogilent shows what they do – develop voice
products using IP technology – so the asterix switch and the internal
CDRs (no relation with actual call CDRs - I hope the PTA/FIA people
know how to interpret these).
> > 4. A squid based server and a few PCs
> > 5. No humongous GSM gateways.
> > 6. The GSM SIMs all have detailed records from the relevant
operators and can show how many calls were made
> > The point I am making is how carelessly a company's reputation can
be damaged by the action and its follow up.
> > So first things first, we need to convince the PTA with details
to be able to understand the issue which is not a simple error in
judgment and can be brushed aside. Since handing this over to the
gestapo like tactics of the law enforcers, to coerce some sort of a
confession, will irreparably damage this nascent industry and the
credibility of the PTA itself.
> > While we may (Inshallah) be able to get to the end of this
miserable episode by convincing the PTA and the Government of the
error and damage caused, we need to constructively engage the PTA and
the MoIT, to make sure that this does not happen again, especially
under the pressure of the PTCL.
> > Please pardon me for the long mail but I feel very passionately
about the issue and the unfairness of it all.
> > Regards
> > Salman
> > ________________________________
> > From: Muhammad Tahir [mailto: mtaheer@...<mailto:mtaheer@...>]
> > Sent: Tuesday, December 12, 2006 4:43 PM
> > To: amumtaz@...<mailto:amumtaz@...>
> > Cc: wahaj@...<mailto:wahaj@...>; Nadeem A. Malik; Imran Akhtar
Shah; owais.zaidi@...<mailto:owais.zaidi@...>;
abutt@...<mailto:abutt@...>; Salman Ansari; Ansar; Jahan Ara; Yusuf
Hussain; Member IT (Tariq Badsha); Ashraf.Kapadia@...
<mailto:Ashraf.Kapadia@...> ; Jawwad Farid;
danish@...<mailto:danish@...>; Saeed@...<mailto:Saeed@...>; Muhammad
Zia ullah; danish.q@...<mailto:danish.q@...>; Khawaja Saad;
Omar.Saeed@...<mailto:Omar.Saeed@...>; Asad Karim;
ak@...<mailto:ak@...>; members@...<mailto:members@...>;
operators@...<mailto:operators@...>; INFO; Ashar Iqbal; Zubair
> > Subject: [Norton AntiSpam] Peacefull protest against illegal Raid
on Cogilent Solutions.
> > Dear all,
> > Faisal is still in jail on 8th day of his arrest. We tried many
corners but no one seems to be listening and acting in the way they
should have been. This is now clearly established that Cogilent didn't
do any illegal job and whatever they've been doing, was perfectly
covered under the laws of Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
> > In order to highlight the issue before press and IT community,
friends of Faisal, Jawad, Cogilent and IT/CS professionals of twin
cities would be arranging a peaceful and graceful protest in front of
Software Technology Park-II, Evacuee Trust Complex, Aga Khan Road,
Next to Marriot Hotel, on Wednesday, 13 December 2006 at 1:30 pm sharp.
> > This would be an activity for half an hour to express solidarity
with Faisal/Cogilent, to demand immediate release of Faisal, with
drawl of the illegal and fake case and punishment for those who have
taken this colonial and barbaric step. Faisal's old bed ridden mother
is grief-sicken, Jawad (accused CTO, still 'at large' in FIA files)
with his young daughter who was detected with brain tumor few days
ago, is running from pillar to post. Cogilent is practically shut down
with FIA teams going there every day and harassing them with dire
consequences. The whole team of young CS guys is in miserable shape
and need your help. They're suffering due to high headedness of
government officials, but no one is trying to heal their wounds.
> > Please join all for this protest in front of Software Technology
Park-II, Evacuee Trust Complex, Aga Khan Road, Next to Marriot Hotel,
on Wednesday, 13 December 2006 at 1:30 pm sharp. Please do bring the
play cards with you condemning the act and highlighting the need of
justice.
> > Tahir
> > Project Manager
> > Cogilent Solutions
> > 051- 2871173
> > On 12/12/06, Wahaj us Siraj <wahaj@...<mailto:wahaj@...>> wrote:
> > Dear all,
> > Enclosed is the PTA's Determination on PC to Phone services being
legal effective 01 Jan 03. This was the case fought by ISPAK in PTA
for a long time.
> > Here's the letter that we sent to Chairman PTA yesterday. Nothing
moved yet in the power corridors and poor Faisal is still in jail on 8
th day of illegal custody.
> > Kind regards…Wahaj
> > Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan
> > (ISPAK)
> > 11 December 2006
> > Maj. Gen. (R) Shahzada Alam Malik
> > Chairman
> > Pakistan Telecommunication Authority
> > Islamabad
> > Subject: Raid on M/s Cogilent Solutions, Islamabad for Alleged
> > VOIP Termination
> > Dear Sir,
> > We would like to draw your kind attention to the raid
conducted by PTA/ FIA on Islamabad based software company, M/s
Cogilent Solutions and arrest of its CEO, Mr. Faisal Chohan on 05
December 06. ISPAK has thoroughly investigated the case and concluded
that the company was not involved in any illegal voice
termination/origination service based on the following facts:
> > i. Cogilent had only 4 PSTN lines (3 phones and one fax)
from PTCL and their monthly bills of last one year don't indicate any
calls other than their normal office use.
> > ii. Raiding team couldn't find any GSM gateway/s or SIMs
in Cogilent's office premises.
> > iii. There is no evidence of A or B Tel numbers from the
logs servers confiscated by the raiding team.
> > iv. Record of Cogilent's DSL connection from its DSL
service provider doesn't indicate any abnormal use or pattern typical
of regular or commercial VOIP activity. They've utilized on average of
10 Gbyte of data per month (upload + download) which is very normal
for regular Internet use only.
> > v. Cogilent however did make few (not exceeding 20) PC to
phone overseas calls every month using Internet but these calls are
perfectly legal as per PTA's Determination of December 2002.
> > 2. We'd request for an urgent meeting with you and your team
to present the evidence and explain joint industry's point of view in
detail on innocence of M/s Cogilent so that this case is settled and
ordeal of Mr. Faisal Chohan could be ended without further suffering.
> > 3. Needless to say that whole IT industry of the country
including ISPs, Call Centers and Software Houses are very perturbed
over this incident and want to see a quick end to the suffering of the
company employees and with drawl of the case.
> > With kind regards.
> > Yours truly,
> > Wahaj us Siraj
> > Convener
> > ________________________________
> > From: Nadeem A. Malik [mailto: namalik@...<mailto:namalik@...>]
> > Sent: Tuesday, December 12, 2006 11:57 AM
> > To: Imran Akhtar Shah; wahaj@...<mailto:wahaj@...>;
owais.zaidi@...<mailto:owais.zaidi@...>; abutt@...<mailto:abutt@...>;
'Salman Ansari'; 'Ansar'; Jahan Ara; Yusuf Hussain; 'Member IT (Tariq
Badsha)'; Ashraf.Kapadia@... <mailto:Ashraf.Kapadia@...>
> > Cc: 'Jawwad Farid'; danish@...<mailto:danish@...>; '
Saeed@...<mailto:Saeed@...>'; 'Muhammad Zia ullah';
danish.q@...<mailto:danish.q@...>; 'Khawaja Saad';
Omar.Saeed@...<mailto:Omar.Saeed@...>; 'Asad Karim';
ak@...<mailto:ak@...>; members@...<mailto:members@...>;
operators@...<mailto:operators@...>; 'Atif Mumtaz'
> > Subject: Re: PTA/FIA Raids an Islamabad Software Company and Puts
CEO behind bars......
> > Technology has a shelf life of a banana then how could you
regulate it? Who make all these rules and decide when to use them. For
answer " Everyone has right to University Degree, even its in
Hamburger Technology".
> > IT business profoundly depend on science and technology (news for
many :). At many Govt agencies almost no one understands technology
and its dynamics. This is a prescription for disaster. This
combustible mixture of ignorance and power has blow up in our faces in
this case.
> > PSEB did miss the point. The greatest task for PSEB is to make
this country destination of choice for IT business by making Govt
agencies aware of IT business dynamics and create conducive business
environment. The following is from PSEB web site:
> > "
> > * Act as a bridge between the private IT companies and the
various government bodies
> > * Study the laws, regulations and strategies of various
competitor countries and explore new markets for the Pakistan IT industry
> > "
> > Action like these won't help to achieve these goals.
> > Best Regards
> > Nadeem A. Malik
> > On 12/12/06 10:49 AM, "Imran Akhtar Shah" <
imran@...<mailto:imran@...>> wrote:
> > PSEB,
> > Please learn from the mistakes till date you guys have done.
Instead of a booming Software Industry and outsource business (Call
Centers) , where Pakistan is today…you all should reflect back and
correct your approach.
> > ISPAK is proud to be the torch bearer of ISP & Telecom industry in
Pakistan, this is the time you guys go to basics and read the charter
of PSEB for Heaven Sake!
> > Regards,
> > Imran Akhtar Shah
> > ________________________________
> > From: Wahaj us Siraj [mailto:wahaj@...]
> > Sent: Monday, December 11, 2006 8:47 PM
> > To: wahaj@...<mailto:wahaj@...>;
owais.zaidi@...<mailto:owais.zaidi@...>; 'Nadeem A. Malik';
abutt@...<mailto:abutt@...>; 'Salman Ansari'; 'Ansar'; 'Jahan Ara';
'Yusuf Hussain'; 'Member IT (Tariq Badsha)'; Ashraf.Kapadia@...
<mailto:Ashraf.Kapadia@...>
> > Cc: 'Jawwad Farid'; danish@...<mailto:danish@...>; '
Saeed@...<mailto:Saeed@...>'; 'Muhammad Zia ullah';
danish.q@...<mailto:danish.q@...>; 'Khawaja Saad';
Omar.Saeed@...<mailto:Omar.Saeed@...>; 'Asad Karim';
ak@...<mailto:ak@...>; members@...<mailto:members@...>;
operators@...<mailto:operators@...>; 'Atif Mumtaz'
> > Subject: RE: PTA/FIA Raids an Islamabad Software Company and Puts
CEO behind bars......
> > PSEB,
> > Instead of supporting the cause and stand up against aggression,
you're intimidating your own members. Cogilent did nothing illegal.
The authorities acted in illegal way. PTA itself has permitted PC to
Phone VOIP calls in December 02.
> > Kind regards…Wahaj
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Salman Ansari [mailto:salman@...]
> > Sent: Monday, December 11, 2006 12:08 PM
> > To: 'news@...<mailto:news@...>'
> > Subject: RE: ILLEGAL USE OF VOICE OVER INTERNET PROTOCOL (VOIP)
TECHNOLOGY__
> > What an irony...
> > PSEB, you seem to be missing the point completely.
> > Salman
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: PSEB [ mailto:news@...]
> > Sent: Monday, December 11, 2006 11:54 AM
> > Subject: ILLEGAL USE OF VOICE OVER INTERNET PROTOCOL (VOIP)
TECHNOLOGY__ __ILLEGAL USE OF VOICE OVER INTERNET PROTOCOL (VOIP) TE
> > ____
> > __ILLEGAL USE OF VOICE OVER INTERNET PROTOCOL (VOIP) TECHNOLOGY__
> > The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and Federal
Investigation Agency (FIA) are taking a serious view of any violation
of the Pakistan Telecommunication (Re-organization) Act 1996 and in
particular non-authorized use of the Internet for Voice Traffic
(VOIP). Recently PTA & FIA conducted a raid on an Islamabad based
software development company and arrested its CEO for alleged illegal
termination of calls (illegal use of VOIP). The company was accused of
committing offences under section 31 of the Pakistan Telecommunication
(Re-organization) Act 1996, section 36/37 of Electronic Transaction
Ordinance 2002, section 25 C of Telegraphic Act 1885 and sections
34/420 of Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).
> > Pakistan Software Export Board urges all of its member companies
to comply with the legal undertaking provided when signing up for
Internet Service Provision as well as all rules, regulations and
conditions prescribed in relevant laws which can be accessed at the
following URLs:
> > 1. Pakistan Telecommunication (Re-organization) Act 1996 at
> > www.pta.gov.pk<http://www.pta.gov.pk/> <
www.pta.gov.pk<http://www.pta.gov.pk/>>
> > 2. Electronic Transaction Ordinance 2002 at
> >
www.pakistan.gov.pk/divisions/itandtelecom-division/media/eto2002.pdf
<http://www.pakistan.gov.pk/divisions/itandtelecom-division/media/eto2002.pdf>
<
www.pakistan.gov.pk/divisions/itandtelecom-division/media/eto2002.pdf<http://www.pakistan.gov.pk/divisions/itandtelecom-division/media/eto2002.pdf>>
> > Unless you are a call center registered with the PSEB, you should
not be using the Internet for Voice Traffic. In addition, you must
comply with all rules, regulations and conditions of operation as a
call center. The detailed procedure for facilitation of Domestic and
International Call
> > Centers can be downloaded from the website of PTCL at
> >
www.ptcl.com.pk/tariff/call_centres/download/call_center_policy.doc
<http://www.ptcl.com.pk/tariff/call_centres/download/call_center_policy.doc>
> > Kindly note that if you are a developer of VoIP products, who
generates minimal voice traffic over the Internet for product testing
purposes only, then you are advised to please contact PTA for
clarification and special permission with full justification of the
case with a copy to PSEB at info@...<mailto:info@...>.
> > Note that illegal generation of VoIP traffic can lead to arrest,
imprisonment, and/or fines under the applicable rules and regulations
stated above.
> > Sajid Iqbal
> > Manager Domestic Business
> > Pakistan Software Export Board
> > 2nd Floor, Evacuee Trust Complex
> > F-5, Agha Khan Road, Islamabad-Pakistan
> > Ph: +92-51-9220812
> > ________________________________
> > From: Wahaj us Siraj [mailto:wahaj@...]
> > Sent: Monday, December 11, 2006 6:14 PM
> > To: 'owais.zaidi@...<mailto:owais.zaidi@...>'; 'Nadeem A. Malik';
' abutt@...<mailto:abutt@...>'; 'Salman Ansari'; 'Ansar'; 'Jahan Ara';
'Yusuf Hussain'; 'Member IT (Tariq Badsha)'; ' Ashraf.Kapadia@...
<mailto:Ashraf.Kapadia@...> '
> > Cc: 'Jawwad Farid'; ' danish@...<mailto:danish@...>'; '
Saeed@...<mailto:Saeed@...>'; 'Muhammad Zia ullah';
'danish.q@...<mailto:danish.q@...>'; 'Khawaja Saad'; '
Omar.Saeed@...<mailto:Omar.Saeed@...>'; 'Asad Karim';
'ak@...<mailto:ak@...>'; ' members@...<mailto:members@...>';
'operators@...<mailto:operators@...>'; 'Atif Mumtaz'
> > Subject: RE: PTA/FIA Raids an Islamabad Software Company and Puts
CEO behind bars......
> > ________________________________
> > From: Owais Zaidi [mailto:owais.zaidi@...]
> > Sent: Saturday, December 09, 2006 3:31 PM
> > To: 'Nadeem A. Malik'; abutt@...<mailto:abutt@...>;
wahaj@...<mailto:wahaj@...>; 'Salman Ansari'; 'Ansar'; 'Jahan Ara';
'Yusuf Hussain'; 'Member IT (Tariq Badsha)'; Ashraf.Kapadia@...
<mailto:Ashraf.Kapadia@...>
> > Cc: 'Jawwad Farid'; danish@...<mailto:danish@...>; '
Saeed@...<mailto:Saeed@...>'; 'Muhammad Zia ullah';
danish.q@...<mailto:danish.q@...>; 'Khawaja Saad'
> > Subject: RE: PTA/FIA Raids an Islamabad Software Company and Puts
CEO behind bars......
> > As Pasha General Secretary, I will appreciate if someone from
Cogilent provides a schematic for their setup with components clearly
identified. I have talked to our corporate lawyer and he has asked for
this diagram.
> > Regards,
> > Owais Zaidi
> >
[http://by124w.bay124.mail.live.com/mail/SafeRedirect.aspx?hm__tg=http://207.46.11.249/att/GetAttachment.aspx&hm__qs=file%3d7e4b5a59-dba1-453c-9c81-f3f93f3ec624.jpg%26ct%3dimage%252fjpeg%26name%3dimage001.jpg%26inline%3d1%26rfc%3d0%26empty%3dFalse&oneredir=1&ip=10.1.106.222&d=d1968&mf=0]
> > Coporate Office
> > phone: +92 21 455 4016
> > cell: +92 301 823 1188
> > C 30, Mohd Ali Housing Society
> > Karachi 75400, Pakistan
> > EBusiness Ops Center
> > phone: +92 21 565 6293
> > 601, STSM Foundation Building
> > Beaumont Road, Civil Lines
> > Karachi 75530
> > www.access.net.pk<http://www.access.net.pk/>
> > DISCLAIMER: This e-mail contains proprietary information some of
which may be legally privileged. It is for the intended recipient
only. If an addressing or transmission error has misdirected this
e-mail, please notify the author by replying to it. If you are not the
intended recipient you may not use, disclose, distribute, copy, print
or rely on this e-mail.
> > ________________________________
> > From: Nadeem A. Malik [mailto:namalik@...]
> > Sent: Saturday, December 09, 2006 11:26 AM
> > To: abutt@...<mailto:abutt@...>; wahaj@...<mailto:wahaj@...>;
'Salman Ansari'; 'Ansar'; Jahan Ara; Yusuf Hussain; 'Member IT (Tariq
Badsha)'; Ashraf.Kapadia@... <mailto:Ashraf.Kapadia@...>
> > Cc: 'Owais Zaidi'; 'Jawwad Farid'; danish@...<mailto:danish@...>;
' Saeed@...<mailto:Saeed@...>'; 'Muhammad Zia ullah';
danish.q@...<mailto:danish.q@...>; 'Khawaja Saad'
> > Subject: Re: PTA/FIA Raids an Islamabad Software Company and Puts
CEO behind bars......
> > It is an unfortunate incident and have shown what kind of respect
PTCL has for our industry. Making Public Monopoly into private
monopoly was bad a call and was told to decision makers. Now we are
experiences the greatest privatization's results , LDI and LL
operators are scaling back their operations, Call Centers, BPO, SW
Houses are feeling the pinch due to PTCL's resistance to reduce the
bandwidth charges and its least concern regarding the quality of services.
> > Now, adding insult to injury, PTCL/PTA/FIA acted in old colonial
day manner, "Guilty until proven innocent". PTCL and PTA claim to have
records to prove their claim but that still does not justify the
action. This should be just a dispute between two parties not fight
where one with bigger stick wins.
> > During the meeting with Chairman PTA and other officials on Oct
30, 2006, among other issues PASHA raised the similar fears i.e that
our companies are reluctant to take projects which requires IP based
voice setups since currently there is no frame work exists with PTA.
Further, it was told that any wrong action on either party can put our
industry in awkward position and may jeopardize its growth. Chairman
PTA assured us that they will evaluate and develop framework to cover
such aspects.
> > We must exert our joint efforts to resolve this and develop
framework for future. Wahaj, let's call a joint meeting of ISPAK,
PASHA and other stakeholders ASAP and take up this with MoIT and PTA.
> > Best Regards
> > Nadeem A. Malik
> > On 12/9/06 7:18 AM, "abutt@...<mailto:abutt@...>" <
abutt@...<mailto:abutt@...>> wrote:
> > Dear Colleagues ! This infact is act that cannot be left with out
making the concerns realize that they have done a wrong thing, About
two years back PTCL did the same thing in Karachi when they raided
SUPER PHONE facility at Gerry's office, near Hotel Metropole, Super
Phone management acted fast and with support from industry,
immediately Minister of IT Mr Leghari was contacted same evening,
Nice of Minister sahib who called up Chief Minister Sind, prompt
action was taken the concerned police officials were suspended, but
nothing was done of PTCL folks who instigated this raid.
> > I agree with Wahaj that this has to be taken to the highest
authority, in this context ACCO stands by all of you, with all our
media contacts, we are already discussing with our members the next
course of action that will include but not limited to bringing the
PTCL management on air along with PTA, by getting our associated TV
channels to go after them and bring them in a debate with the Industry
players and make them answer the questions. Also to send press
releases to all news papers. Then seek PSEB to get all of the stake
holders get appointment with IT minister, so proper report can be
presented along with PTCL officials.
> > We also with Salman shab, that it looks like no body in PTCL seems
to be bothered about ITES sector and its growth, and the new
management are trying to run this company as a monopoly.
> > On 8th at CONNECT IT call center session, I have already spoken on
this in public during ACCO presentation, and had discussion with Sind
IT Advisor, Mr Nauman Saigol also.
> > Regards
> > Abdullah Butt
> > ACCO
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Wahaj us Siraj [mailto:wahaj@...]
<mailto:wahaj@...%5d><mailto:wahaj@...]>
> > Sent: Friday, December 08, 2006 1:17 PM
> > To: 'Salman Ansari'; 'Ansar'; 'Jehan Ara';
abutt@...<mailto:abutt@...>; md@...<mailto:md@...>; 'Member IT (Tariq
Badsha)'; Ashraf.Kapadia@...<mailto:Ashraf.Kapadia@...>
> > Cc: Ashraf.Kapadia@...<mailto:Ashraf.Kapadia@...>; 'Nadeem A.
Malik'; 'Owais Zaidi'; 'Jawwad Farid'; danish@...<mailto:danish@...>;
' Saeed@...<mailto:Saeed@...>'; 'Muhammad Zia ullah';
danish.q@...<mailto:danish.q@...>; 'Khawaja Saad'
> > Subject: RE: PTA/FIA Raids an Islamabad Software Company and Puts
CEO behind bars......
> > Salman bhai,
> > Infact, Yusuf has been supporting this case since it was brought
to his knowledge. He has gone many extra miles to support this case
which no bureaucrat would have done. He even arranged lawyer for the
Faisal's first court appearance on Wednesday and we really appreciate
this. Such steps were never taken by any of his predecessors.
> > PASHA should take a tough stand on this as this happened with a
software company. Industry forums need to be more vocal and strong.
Otherwise, it's doomed to happen with anyone else tomorrow.
> > Kind regards…Wahaj
> > ________________________________
> > From: Salman Ansari [mailto:salman@...]
<mailto:salman@...%5d><mailto:salman@...]>
> > Sent: Friday, December 08, 2006 12:33 PM
> > To: wahaj@...<mailto:wahaj@...>; 'Ansar'; 'Jehan Ara';
abutt@...<mailto:abutt@...>; md@...<mailto:md@...>; 'Member IT ( Tariq
Badsha)'; Ashraf.Kapadia@...<mailto:Ashraf.Kapadia@...>
> > Cc: Ashraf.Kapadia@...<mailto:Ashraf.Kapadia@...>; 'Nadeem A.
Malik'; 'Owais Zaidi'; 'Jawwad Farid'; danish@...<mailto:danish@...>;
' Saeed@...<mailto:Saeed@...>'; 'Muhammad Zia ullah';
danish.q@...<mailto:danish.q@...>; 'Khawaja Saad'
> > Subject: PTA/FIA Raids an Islamabad Software Company and Puts CEO
behind bars......
> > Dear Yusuf
> > This is perhaps your first really big challenge. If the PM can get
ecstatic about the billions of dollars worth of SW export out of
Pakistan, I am sure he should be very concerned about this major
fiasco. Please do not let this issue die without this company getting
a big public apology and financial compensation – perhaps some good
use of the billions in the R&D fund.
> > I really wonder if the PSEB and MoIT will move in this or will
this be another passive, business as usual case. After the silly
taxing of computers and IT equipment, with no redress from the MoIT,
the government should just give up this sector and forget about the
plans that you have crafted so well and are training people and
creating resources like Tech parks and those of the HEC is assiduously
creating PhDs for stimulating a knowledge economy.
> > When will we get over the Stalinist attitude on VoIP? After the
reduction of APC to 2.5 cents thereby reducing the motivation of PTCL
no longer circumventing the PTA rules (which everyone else has to
follow) and terminating millions of minutes via their own Huawei
switch in Lahore, the issue of the pot calling the kettle black has to
stop and these meaningless raids have to stop. Specially ones like these.
> > It appears that we have sold our spirit, ethics and souls along
with the 26%.
> > Salman
> > ________________________________
> > From: Wahaj us Siraj [ mailto:wahaj@...]
<mailto:wahaj@...%5d><mailto:wahaj@...]>
> > Sent: Friday, December 08, 2006 11:30 AM
> > To: wahaj@...<mailto:wahaj@...> ; 'Ansar'; 'Jehan Ara';
abutt@...<mailto:abutt@...>
> > Cc: Ashraf.Kapadia@...<mailto:Ashraf.Kapadia@...>; 'Nadeem A.
Malik'; 'Owais Zaidi'; 'Jawwad Farid'; danish@...<mailto:danish@...>;
' Saeed@...<mailto:Saeed@...>'; 'Muhammad Zia ullah';
danish.q@...<mailto:danish.q@...>; 'Khawaja Saad'; 'Salman Ansari'
> > Subject: RE: PTA/FIA Raids an Islamabad Software Company and Puts
CEO behind bars......
> > Ansar,
> > I know these guys. They're just young CS/IT professionals. Atif,
their founder is doing a fellowship in Stanford. Their DSL link was
through us and this was a 512 k/12 Gb connection, mostly under
utilized – not suitable at all to do VOIP terminations. They might
have been doing some interoffice (Islamabad-CA) communication through
IP, PC to PC, etc., but this is not 'illegal' and PTA's Determination
also exist on this. So VIOP packets might have been flowing on their
link but that is common on every broadband connection today. Even
PTCL/PTA highups have IP phones at their homes.
> > Termination of international calls through VOIP requires either
connectivity with PSTN or GSM gateway. Cogilent's office had only 4
phone lines from PTCL including one fax. No commercial termination of
calls can take place on these four lines. PTCL would also have record
of these outgoing calls and they can easily find out whether CLIs of
these calls were recorded/displayed at any numbers while terminating
international calls.
> > No GSM gateway was found in Cogilent's office as well. So no
GSM/PSTN connectivity is established with VOIP. All previous raids of
PTA have found PSTN/GSM gateways connected with IP but Cogilent had
nothing of this sort. Even a small call termination setup required to
terminate few thousands of minutes per month requires min of 20 PSTN
or GSM lines connected to a gateway.
> > Cogilent was using an Asterisk server (Linux running SIP and other
VOIP protocols) as office PABX which many office do around the globe.
Even we use the same setup for our inter-office communication.
> > PTA has been silent on famous illegal call terminations of
hundreds of millions minutes by NTC for more that two years, despite
the hue and cry in media. They couldn't dare raid NTC premises and
arrest men in khakis.
> > PTCL has been doing the same and still doing today, brining 40-50
million minutes of underhand grey traffic every month. PTA knows this.
We've publicly pointed this out in a large meeting of PTA, PTCL and
industry and this was recorded in minutes of the meeting by PTA. But
PTA didn't dare raid ITMC, RWP, confiscate switch and arrest the
officers and SEVPs there.
> > Large Cellular operators are doing same but no action taken.
> > This is worst case of abuse of public powers against small and
fragile companies. Most sad part of this is that PTA has done so on
the request and complaint of PTCL and conducted a joint raid. No law
or constitution allows, PTCL, a private operator, to be a part of such
effort.
> > We must invoke media and legal proceedings. PASHA and Call Centers
should also raise voice with full force. We're written to Minister for
IT for an urgent meeting and waiting for a response. If nothing comes
up, young fellows in IT companies and call centers here are gearing up
to do a demonstration in front of the Ministry of IT next week.
> > We're discussing with lawyers here. Cogilent had no backing and
poor guys are running here and there, their families screaming. First
priority is to get Faisal bailed out of the jail and then a counter
case for abuse of public powers most probably through a Writ Petition
in the High Court.
> > Kind regards…Wahaj
> > ________________________________
> > From: Ansar [ mailto:ansar@...]
<mailto:ansar@...%5d><mailto:ansar@...]>
> > Sent: Friday, December 08, 2006 10:32 AM
> > To: wahaj@...<mailto:wahaj@...>; 'Jehan Ara';
abutt@...<mailto:abutt@...>
> > Subject: RE: PTA/FIA Raids an Islamabad Software Company and Puts
CEO behind bars......
> > I think this time a joint concerted effort is required to try to
bring the PTA/PTCL etc. out of stone ages. A case should be filed and
heavy compensation should be demanded from the culprits for them to
refrain from such damaging acts if we feel Cogilent Solutions is not
guilty. Let me know your thoughts on this. Media can be invoked for
clarification besides legal proceedings. I am ready to pay my share
for such cause.
> > Rgds/Ansar
> > ________________________________
> > From: Wahaj us Siraj [ mailto:wahaj@...]
<mailto:wahaj@...%5d><mailto:wahaj@...]>
> > Sent: Thursday, December 07, 2006 12:12 PM
> > To: wahaj@...<mailto:wahaj@...> ; 'Amer Shafique'; 'Luqman Kamil';
operators@...<mailto:operators@...>; akarim@...<mailto:akarim@...>;
ajmal.ansari@...<mailto:ajmal.ansari@...>;
shahid.bhutto@...<mailto:shahid.bhutto@...>;
mukhtar@...<mailto:mukhtar@...>; asad@...<mailto:asad@...>;
yousaf@...<mailto:yousaf@...>; reneec@...<mailto:reneec@...>;
peter.yeow@...<mailto:peter.yeow@...>; 'Maj Gen (Rtd.) Faisal Alavi';
'Wajahat'; george.hashim@...<mailto:george.hashim@...>; 'Jamshed
Masood'; 'Muhammad Ali Qazi'; Kashif@...<mailto:Kashif@...>; 'Shahid
Firoz'; 'Shahid Naeem Butt'; 'BRIG SALEEM'; 'Azmat Ali';
asif.rumi@...<mailto:asif.rumi@...>; 'Adnan Asdar'; 'Kamil Khan';
rs@...<mailto:rs@...>; 'Amjad Farooq Alvi'; bas@...<mailto:bas@...>;
sq@...<mailto:sq@...>; affan.khan@...<mailto:affan.khan@...>;
st@...<mailto:st@...>; members@...<mailto:members@...>;
operators@...<mailto:operators@...>; Usman . ; 'Dr. Irfan zafar';
ak@...<mailto:ak@...>; 'Yusuf Hussain'; 'Salman Ansari'; 'Talib
Baloch'; arana@...<mailto:arana@...>; akazi@...<mailto:akazi@...>;
owais.khan@...<mailto:owais.khan@...>;
umar.usmani@...<mailto:umar.usmani@...>;
tanveer@...<mailto:tanveer@...>; mshahid@...<mailto:mshahid@...>;
hamid@...<mailto:hamid@...>; nasir@...<mailto:nasir@...>;
wali@...<mailto:wali@...>; sazim@...<mailto:sazim@...>;
ateeq@...<mailto:ateeq@...>; nasser.lone@...<mailto:nasser.lone@...>;
muneer.farooqui@...<mailto:muneer.farooqui@...>;
jhumra@...<mailto:jhumra@...>; asim.saber@...<mailto:asim.saber@...>;
masood@...<mailto:masood@...>; mziaee@...<mailto:mziaee@...>;
maniya@...<mailto:maniya@...>; abutt@...<mailto:abutt@...>;
dyl@...<mailto:dyl@...>; fendi@...<mailto:fendi@...>;
naved@...<mailto:naved@...>; irfanfarooq@...<mailto:irfanfarooq@...>;
farook@...<mailto:farook@...>; farooq@...<mailto:farooq@...>;
farrukh@...<mailto:farrukh@...>;
farrkuhjunaidy@...<mailto:farrkuhjunaidy@...>;
wmalik@...<mailto:wmalik@...>;
adnan.husain@...<mailto:adnan.husain@...>;
adnantahir@...<mailto:adnantahir@...>; 'Ansar'; ak@...<mailto:ak@...>;
operators@...<mailto:operators@...>; 'Awais Leghari'; 'Noor-ud-Din
Baqai MMember Telecom''; 'Farrakh Qayyum';
khakwan@...<mailto:khakwan@...>; faslam@...<mailto:faslam@...>;
'Rashid Khan'; 'Director Telecom, Mushtaq Ahmed Bhatti';
rehan@...<mailto:rehan@...>
> > Subject: RE: PTA/FIA Raids an Islamabad Software Company and Puts
CEO behind bars......
> > ________________________________
> > From: Wahaj us Siraj [ mailto:wahaj@...]
<mailto:wahaj@...%5d><mailto:wahaj@...]>
> > Sent: Wednesday, December 06, 2006 4:37 PM
> > To: 'Amer Shafique'; 'Luqman Kamil';
operators@...<mailto:operators@...>; akarim@...<mailto:akarim@...>;
ajmal.ansari@...<mailto:ajmal.ansari@...>;
shahid.bhutto@...<mailto:shahid.bhutto@...>;
mukhtar@...<mailto:mukhtar@...>; asad@...<mailto:asad@...>;
yousaf@...<mailto:yousaf@...>; reneec@...<mailto:reneec@...>;
peter.yeow@...<mailto:peter.yeow@...>; 'Maj Gen (Rtd.) Faisal Alavi';
'Wajahat'; george.hashim@...<mailto:george.hashim@...>; 'Jamshed
Masood'; 'Muhammad Ali Qazi'; Kashif@...<mailto:Kashif@...>; 'Shahid
Firoz'; 'Shahid Naeem Butt'; 'BRIG SALEEM'; 'Azmat Ali';
asif.rumi@...<mailto:asif.rumi@...>; 'Adnan Asdar'; 'Kamil Khan';
rs@...<mailto:rs@...>; 'Amjad Farooq Alvi'; bas@...<mailto:bas@...>;
sq@...<mailto:sq@...>; affan.khan@...<mailto:affan.khan@...>;
st@...<mailto:st@...>; operations@...<mailto:operations@...>;
members@...<mailto:members@...>
> > Subject: PTA/FIA Raids an Islamabad Software Company and Puts CEO
behind bars......
> > On a complaint filed by PTCL, PTA swiftly acts and arrests CEO of
a software company located in Software Technology Park, Islamabad on
alleged VOIP call termination. Here's the other part of story.
> > Kind regards…Wahaj
> > ________________________________
> > From: mumtaz.atif@... <mailto:mumtaz.atif@...> [
mailto:mumtaz.atif@...]
<mailto:mumtaz.atif@...%5d><mailto:mumtaz.atif@...]> On Behalf Of Atif
Mumtaz
> > Sent: Tuesday, December 05, 2006 8:45 PM
> > To: jehan@...<mailto:jehan@...>
> > Cc: wahaj@...<mailto:wahaj@...>; aamatin@...<mailto:aamatin@...>;
md@...<mailto:md@...>; Ahmad Jawad
> > Subject: Request Assistance from PASHA
> > Asalam Alekum,
> > I wanted to share a recent harrowing experience that my company is
going through in Pakistan. First a bit of a background.
> > I co-founded an internet Startup company, called Cogilent
Solutions ( www.cogilent.com<http://www.cogilent.com/>
<http://www.cogilent.com/><http://www.cogilent.com/> ), in Islamabad,
which runs a very successful job portal in the country called
BrightSpyre ( www.BrightSpyre.com<http://www.brightspyre.com/>
<http://www.brightspyre.com/><http://www.brightspyre.com/> ). Among
our innovations, we were one of the first companies in the world to
launch an integrated Voice Resume system based on VoIP technologies.
And our solution is being used by companies like TRG and others to
hire quality talent for their call centers in Pakistan.
> > ...
> > [Message clipped]
>
> __________________________________________________________
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I have never met Faisal Chohan but I owe him an apology.


As I write these lines, Faisal is a typical techno geek entrepreneur
with a difference.  Yes he runs a technology company, based out of a
software park in Islamabad; yes he is a frail thin, thing; I don't
know if he wears spectacles, but I assume so since 18 hours a day in
front of a bright LCD screen for the last decade of your life is not
supposed to lead to 20-20 vision.  His co-founder is a digital fellow
at Stanford; his company does big things with interesting
technologies with little names.


At the surface, you may be describing me, the next Google or hundreds
of my technology peers in Pakistan but there is one difference.  I am
sitting peacefully in my home office, a room away from my family, a
floor above my parents, a short drive away from my office, right next
to a clean, accessible, functional white tiled bathroom with running
water.  While Faisal sits in a jail cell in Adiala, Rawalpindi,
possibly freezing, possibly hungry, certainly wondering the life his
dead child could have lived, if we had given him half a chance.


I owe Faisal an apology. Perhaps more.


I heard about Faisal last Thursday in Lahore.  His partner Atif, the
visiting fellow at Stanford, sent a short note on the PASHA forum,
asking for our help. PTA and PTCL had raided their office in
Islamabad and like plundering Mongols pillaged servers, drives,
phones and equipment. They had set Basra on fire, looted Baghdad,
razed Kabul and a week later would kill Faisal's child in search of
their equivalent of Weapons of Mass Destructions - a technology that
goes by the name of Voice over IP.  Unlike General Colin Powel and
the nation we all love to hate, the General at PTA and the team at
PTCL didn't need to make a case in front of anyone.  They thought a
great crime had been committed against our great country and could
only be punished by barging into this idly pidly little technology
company and turning off its life support.


I owe Faisal an apology. I did nothing.


I run a small technology company too. I was in Lahore on business,
out of office, I was busy; If you needed something urgently please
contact Mujtaba Iqbal, my partner in crime - the auto responder said.
I thought some one else would pick up the ball.  We have 40 full
members, 130 Associate members at PASHA. Atif had asked every one for
help. Surely, there would be others who would come forward, this
wasn't my problem.  While FIA and PTA were busy raping Cogilent, I
sat down in a friend's office in Lahore, turned on the heater,
checked my email, browsed the internet and thanked God that I wasn't
in Faisal's place.


I owe Faisal an apology. I believed in our great nation. I waited for
the four witnesses to come forward.


But there is hope.


I may be a shameless, selfish, indifferent prick but there are others
who are as different from me as Faisal and I are different from each
other.  Wahaj Siraj came forward and became the little voice in my
head that kept on saying - shame on you Jawwad, you are a selfish,
indifferent, cynical prick.  Wahaj's daily updates from the front,
show casing PTA's arrogance, Faisal misery and our helplessness
shamed me into picking up the phone and asking if we were going to do
something.


We did but it wasn't enough. Four days ago we found that IP address
on which PTCL had detected VoiP activity and PTA and FIA had taken
action didn't belong to Cogilent. There was no case. No WMD's.  The
General had invaded Beirut, rather than Baghdad. A difference of a
few miles, but now that the General was here, and the troops were
raging to go, and Faisal was in his Jail cell, what really mattered
was to boldly go where every one had gone before. We made a mistake,
so what; screw Faisal and Faisal's family. Yes we know he is
innocent, but he is in the system, he is a techno geek without
connections, the system will take two months or eight years, we don't
care and he can afford a few days in jail; what difference does a
fucking weekend make. So what if a few children die, it's all
collateral. You care, you do something about it.


I owe Faisal an apology. I didn't care. And the child that died was Faisal's.


I have blood on my hands. The General at PTA is a general. He will
behave like a general, he doesn't care.  Faisal is not his son, it is
not his grand child that is dead. But what about the rest of us? What
difference does a weekend make? I get depressed at Holiday Inn
Islamabad because the bathroom is not clean enough and the room is
not bright enough.  Try a jail cell in Adiala for 10 days, with your
wife in the hospital and your child in the mortuary and then ask me
what difference does a fucking weekend make?


I owe Faisal an apology. I don't know how to wash his blood off my hands.

   _____________________

   To learn more about the Faisal Chohan saga, see:

   http://wheelofjustice.blogspot.com


If you are a pissed as I am, write to these guys:

Federal Minister for IT: aleghari@...

Minister of State for IT: stateminister@...

Secretary IT: secretary@...

PTA Chairman: chairman@...

________________________

The Blue Screen of Death

A Book on failure by Jawwad Farid



The book website: http://bluescreen.alchemya.com

Reviews so far: http://bluescreen.alchemya.com/reviews.html

Buy the book: http://bluescreen.alchemya.com/buy.html

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