Historic Win: Social Media Beats Corrupt Media: ProPakistani

Historic Win: Social Media Beats Corrupt Media
Ufone Introduces UReminder
AJK Government Steps Toward IT Revolution
ProPakistani Backed ICT Workshop Held in Islamabad

Historic Win: Social Media Beats Corrupt Media

Posted: 14 Jun 2012 06:51 AM PDT

Revolution, probably the most used word as a catch-line by the politicians of all eras in Pakistan, seemed like a nearing reality today when a video of off-air conversation between Mubashir Luqman and Mehr Bukhari interviewing Malik Riaz, the real-estate tycoon went loose on internet.

Malik Riaz is a party of suo moto case in Supreme Court, termed as Family Gate and Behria Gate, in which Mr. Riaz has alleged Dr. Arsalan Iftikhar, the son of Chief Justice of Pakistan for blackmailing him and his family members.

Malik Riaz last night did an exclusive interview with Mubashir Luqman and Mehr Bukhari on Dunya TV, in which he tried to defend his case over the media. The very next day i.e. today the off-air conversation between both the anchors and Malik Riaz was leaked on Youtube.

The video has been shared by millions of internet users over Facebook, Twitter and YouTube in less than just 10 hours.

The video shows that the whole interview was planted in which both the anchors got instructions for not interrupting Malik Riaz during the interview while Malik Riaz helped the anchors in preparing the questions.

Express Tribune already did a detailed review of the conversation here.

We are of course not going to drag your attention to what was discussed in this leaked video, or what political and economical impacts this activity is going to make. Rather, I will focus on unleashing power the social media has gained over the years.

Today's incident is the true depiction of the change that Social Media can bring in societies, especially where all other pillars of society are either corrupt or not trust worthy. If united and focused, Social Media community of Pakistan can undress the shameless and corrupt characters of the country.

With over 6 million Facebook users and 25 million overall internet users in Pakistan, this roaring digital community has all sufficient muscles to bring down the empires and tycoons that like Malik Riaz or Mubashir Luqman.

This is what exactly happened in fact, just if you don't know, Mubashir Luqman has already been dismissed for off-the script conversation while Malik Riaz would be feeling like a doomed king.

For those who were of the view that social media "in the air" community that shouldn't be counted in as a real or ground level force would have to change their opinion at least. This is the precisely the way change started to pop up in Egypt, Tunisia and other middle eastern countries.

Today print and other conventional media would be mourning its suicidal death, while social media is uprising with new spirit and courage.

Today it were "You" who brought the truth in front of the world. It will be "You" bringing the change in Pakistan.

Ufone Introduces UReminder

Posted: 14 Jun 2012 01:35 AM PDT

Ufone recently launched UReminder service, that is claims to be one of the most promising VAS in the industry.

This service will allow the subscribers to set and manage reminders as and when they need.

These reminders can be used for business or personal use and subscribers can chose from pre-defined reminders or set a custom reminder in their own voice.

Once the users set a reminder they will receive a call at the scheduled time. Not only can the subscribers set reminders for themselves but also for their friends and family and the concerned will receive their reminders directly on their handsets.

How to Set Reminders:

All you need to do is simply dial 7030, set a reminder and then before the time comes U will receive a call from the IVR reminding U to carry out the set task at the time you specified.

Subscription charges:

Rs. 2.50+Tax per week (For Pre-paid customers)
Rs. 10.00+Tax per month (For Post-pay customers)

IVR Call charges:

Rs. 0.50 + Tax per minute

For FAQs and more details: http://www.ufone.com/mobpro_UReminder.aspx

Terms & Conditions:

Service will be available for both prepaid and postpaid users
Users can set a variety of reminders along-with custom reminders
Only 20 reminders can be provisioned weekly
International numbers will not be allowed for setting reminders
Users can avail only voice reminders
Service will automatically become idle after 3 months in case of inactivity

To read more, click: Ufone Introduces UReminder
ProPakistani.PK

AJK Government Steps Toward IT Revolution

Posted: 14 Jun 2012 12:33 AM PDT

AJK government has always welcomed the promotion and integration of Information Technology to its structure. AJK's IT board has been established and the board aims to be a model IT board on international fronts.

Established in 2001, the board has the authority to monitor, initiate, develop, evaluate and propose all IT related project all over the state.

The IT board is part of a master plan which targets to spread IT literacy on all levels, transform the existing structure to e-governance and encourage the promotion of software development on state-level.

The recent agreement between Telenor, Pakistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Government about advancing the awareness of Information Technology (IT) across the state marks commencement of a new chapter in furthering IT in the state.

According to the IT board, some of its major exemplary milestones achieved so far include:

Computerization of land record, arms license, domicile and state subject certificates
Launching of video conferencing facility for state's government and high officials
Installation of electronic communication setup across different government departments
Introduction of well equipped and furnished computer labs at all major high schools and inter-colleges throughout the state
Opening of internet cafes and IT kiosks for public at union council level

Acquisition of proper IT and computer skills at grass-root level has been deemed a major step for achieving AJK's vision to be a self-confident state highly-skilled, honored and prosperous enough to be in par with latest demands of rapidly digitizing global-village.

In addition to welcoming Telenor to work for development of IT, AJK's government has welcomed other private-sector companies and foreign investors in the past as well.

Besides having achieved targets, the government foresees, in at most five years, the successful implementation of its under-development IT programs. Some of them include:

Deployment of an electronic educational network among all intra-state universities and colleges
Exemption of IT faculty from income tax
Establishing information centers having access to reputed international information repositories at major cities of AJK
Promoting distance education by establishment of virtual learning environment by installing video and online facilities across all educational institutes
Making basic IT training compulsory for government employees as well as at all degree-level courses
Facilitating and encouraging foreign universities to establish distance learning centers in AJK

Even though, comparatively speaking, the state lacks highly skilled IT professionals; the government's steps of encouragement may help AJK getting attracted by ex-state IT talent.

Having said this, there still needs a lot to be done. Particularly, the adaptability rates of information technology, broadband and other technologies needs attention.

ProPakistani Backed ICT Workshop Held in Islamabad

Posted: 13 Jun 2012 10:27 PM PDT

Last week, a blogger and journalist meet-up titled "ICT Journalists Workshop" was held at the Kuch Khaas in Islamabad.

Sponsored by Microsoft and arranged by ProPakistani, it was the first of its kind event that offered bloggers and journalists a chance to get to know each other as well as see how they could work hand in hand to work for the betterment of Pakistan.

The event was hosted by ProPakistani's very own Aamir Attaa and had two guest speakers. Ammar Jaffri who is the President and CEO of PISA (Pakistan Information Security Association) and Sohaib Khalil who is the Enterprise Marketing Lead for North Africa, East Med & Pakistan at Microsoft Corporation. Youth dominated the attendees, a fact noted and praised by both speakers.

Mr. Jaffri spoke about how the use of ICT could help the individuals as well as the companies, organizations and government institutes. He shares his thoughts on the state of cyber crimes in Pakistan.

The discussion included the absence of major companies like PayPal in Pakistan and what could be done to remedy it. He also said that there was awareness amongst the youth of how technology can be used to further the development of the company but the upper echelons of the government are the ones who need to be convinced.

Ammar Jafri responded to questions of bloggers and journalists, including the role of NR3C, hacking and cracking, talent in Pakistan how individuals can remain secure while being on internet.

Mr. Shoaib Khalil talked about the state of e-governance in Pakistan and how Microsoft was helping Pakistan push towards it. He explained that despite efforts by Microsoft to push the government of Pakistan towards modernization, the hierarchy as a whole resisted the change. Furthermore, he revealed that only the government of Punjab had any semblance of modern technology in their setup.

The session was lively and punctuated by frequent questions which both speakers appreciated. At the end of the meet-up, an informal discussion over refreshments took place between the participants.

ProPakistani said that it has plans to conduct more such workshops in the future, where more ICT professionals and general internet users would be invited.