But in recent years, there has been a significant shift in the perception of Pakistan as a tourist destination, and one company that has played a crucial role in this transformation is Porter Pakistan. Founded in 2017, Porter Pakistan is a startup that offers adventure tourism services in Pakistan, including trekking, camping, and sightseeing.

The company has quickly gained a reputation for its high-quality services, experienced guides, and commitment to safety and sustainability. Its team consists of passionate and knowledgeable professionals who are dedicated to showcasing the best of Pakistan’s natural beauty to the world.

Porter Pakistan’s achievements are impressive, to say the least. In just a few years, it has become one of the most trusted adventure tourism companies in Pakistan, catering to both local and international tourists. Its clients include prominent organizations such as the United Nations, the British Council, and the World Bank, among others.

In addition to its core services, Porter Pakistan also offers customized tour packages, educational programs, and volunteer opportunities. Its unique approach to adventure tourism has not only helped promote Pakistan’s tourism industry but also created job opportunities and economic growth in remote areas.

Overall, Porter Pakistan has had a significant impact on Pakistan’s tourism industry, and its contribution cannot be overstated. By showcasing the country’s natural beauty and cultural heritage, it has helped change the negative perception of Pakistan and put it on the map as a desirable tourist destination.

In conclusion, Porter Pakistan is a shining example of a successful startup that has not only created a profitable business but also made a positive impact on society. Its dedication to safety, sustainability, and community development has set the bar high for other adventure tourism companies in Pakistan and beyond. If you’re planning a trip to Pakistan and looking for an authentic and unforgettable experience, look no further than Porter Pakistan.

Following is the book’s blurb

A series of murders shake the lives of a police officer and a university student, both finding themselves at the centre of larger geopolitical problems plaguing the city. As they navigate the challenges, a darker reality begins to emerge. There is a beast loose in the city, unseen and unknown. It appears and disappears, adding fuel to the fire that burns the city of Karachi … and they might be its next target.

Note: If you are a book blogger/reviewer and you find the blurb interesting, please reach out as I am looking for book reviewers.

I self-published my novel on Amazon and I believe I could not have taken a better decision. The novel was written back in 2015 after thinking about the story for several years, and the revised manuscript stayed on my laptop for two whole years after massive editing. In the end I decided to dive in and publish the story.

The novel is part of Kindle Unlimited program. If you are a subscriber, you can start reading the story right away. If not, the ebook costs $2.99 and paperback $9.99!

My novel is also enrolled in the Kindle Storyteller Contest 2019, and for that contest it matters if the book has sales and readers reviews to reach the finals (Hint: Help me get to the finals by borrowing/purchasing from Amazon and leaving your review of the book).

Share your view about the story, what did you like about it and what do I have to improve to make my story better.

Karachi, August 16^th, 2018

After voyaging around Pakistan on trains and buses scouting for female innovators, the CIRCLE team wraps up months of hard work at the #SheLovesTech Pakistan 2018 Finals. Held on August 16^th at the National Incubation Center in Karachi, the finals featured 10 female startups from around Pakistan all of whom employ technology to impact women positively. The winner, Saba Khalid of Raaji, will now go to Beijing, China to represent Pakistan and compete in the Global Finals as well as receive mentorship and investment opportunities. In addition, the runner-up, Orbit-Ed, and second runner-up, Tez Financial Services, will receive PKR 100,000 and 50,000 cash prizes, courtesy of Cargill. Raaji provides a digital platform that educates, empowers and entertains women through various projects. It involves a chatbot that can answer questions about harassment/abuse, health and hygiene as well as education and employment.

In 2017, CIRCLE brought SheLovesTech, the world’s largest startup competition for women in tech, to Pakistan when CIRCLE Founder, Sadaffe Abid, met Virginia Tan in a Lean In Summit in Malaysia where she was a closing keynote. Sadaffe jumped at the opportunity without really having the funding as she loved the idea of spotlighting Pakistani women startups that were using technology. This year, after three successful local rounds in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi, a panel of esteemed judges including Jehan Ara, PASHA President, Yusuf Hussain, CEO Ignite, Naheed Memon, Chairperson Sindh Investment Board and Faraz Khan, CEO SEED Ventures, selected their National Winner. Mr. Faraz shared his thoughts on the event saying, “SheLovesTech brought together quality female entrepreneurs whose startups are a great integration of technology and social impact. This combination in itself is really difficult to find but SheLovesTech has managed to bring out the best of these two.”

Ms. Naheed also shared her experience, stating, “I think SheLovesTech is giving a lot of budding entrepreneurs a great opportunity and platform. Some of the ideas are absolutely fascinating and tapping into new markets. I think that they are going to create a lot of new industries and new jobs. This deserves all the support and I’m very glad to be here.”

CIRCLE is a social enterprise that aims to advance women’s economic participation. It is founded by Sadaffe Abid, who previously led the Kashf Foundation as COO and later CEO. Sadaffe set up CIRCLE with the belief that empowerment and inclusion of Pakistani women was the key solution to the country’s economic and social problems. Relaying her insight, she said, “Pakistani women are enterprising, creative and resilient. We must create opportunities for women to come forward whether as entrepreneurs, innovators or in leadership roles.”

Meticulously decorated, the space at NIC pleasantly echoed with national tunes as the guests arrived to witness the startups pitch their ideas. UK Deputy High Commissioner, Elin Burns, gave the opening welcome keynote. Sharing her experience, she said, “In my short time here in Pakistan, I am glad to say that seeing successful women in leading roles doesn’t surprise me. I have met amazing women in a hugely diverse range of fields:  from banking to law, from tech entrepreneurs to pilots. There is a wealth of talent in Pakistan, and She Loves Tech is just one example of that. I hope that this positive trend continues over coming years, contributing to Pakistan’s bright and prosperous future.”

 SheLovesTech is a global startup competition that brings together entrepreneurs who employ technology to positively impact women. The competition is held in 14 countries across the world, including Pakistan.

The Karachi A.I Summit took place on 31st March at Karachi School of Business and Leadership. Unique as it was, the summit brought together heavyweights of the A.I for a 3 hour event covering a range of topics. The event was Co-hosted by PEC & TECH Pakistan, Supported by PASHA.
Second in the A.I meetups, the event started with Mesum Raza Hemani’s address to the audience about Karachi.AI and its vision and zeal which was followed by Keynote Speech by Mr. Shoaib Ul Haq (Asst. Professor at KSBL). Mr. Shoaib gave a brief introduction to A.I and how it affecting Information Revolution,particularly in finance sector.
Following the strict time allotment, the first speaker was Mr. Irfan Sharif from Receipt Bot who spoke about the use of artificial intelligence in accounting and bookkeeping. He introduced the topic of automated bookkeeping where A.I sorts financial information without the need of human oversight and how softwares are evolving to properly deal with accounting requirements and complexities.
He was followed by Mr. Anis Sheikh who spoke about Financial Content Writing and Introduced the public with Pakistani Built world’s Top automated AI based content writing package “DANTE”, He stressed upon his struggles and idea behind the creation of Dante and how it’s revolutionizing the financial content writing industry. The product has a completed MVP on stock market commentary and is ready to be sold before the AMCs, Fund Management Companies and Brokerage Houses who hire costly analyst to develop commentaries on daily stock closings. BASE-H announced release of its financial content writing module to public in May 2018.
Continuing the excellence Ms Saarah Rasheed acquired stage, who spoke about financial trading and markets. Their talks highlighted the deep impact artificial intelligence can have on various mechanisms and measures used for financial reporting, bringing forth data that and its articulation which may not have been possible with just human oversight. Many trends and measures that A.I detected had previously eluded human intelligence and it opens new possibilities for improved financial strategies and automate algorithmic trading mechanisms.
Ms. Naureen Hayat spoke about the role of artificial intelligence in lending and credit. Focusing on FinTech, she emphasized how the huge cache of information can help predict behaviors and use that information to develop credit scores for lending, while reducing fraud at the same time. The pattern recognition is important for better KYC, reduce financial theft/fraud and better lending score, and this is where artificial intelligence is making leaps and bounds.
The financial segment of the A.I event highlighted key learnings, such as massive improvements to understanding patterns and better data gathering, sorting,analysis and predictions for financial strategies. Most of these are already in practice in various countries around the globe and its implementation in Pakistan will certainly improve business and finance sector to better serve the people.
But finance is not the only beneficiary of A.I. The next segment focused on E-Commerce and it started with Ms. Anum Kamran’s talk about Pakistan ECommerce Consortium and its wide motives together with collaborations with Karachi.AI. She spoke about how A.I is using customer data to predict buying behavior and how various websites use it to customize customer experience when they land on the website. Following it she revealed the new projects led by PEC & Karachi.AI to bring Pakistani Ecommerce Markets into AI driven play.
Mr. Usama Noman followed her with Botsifying E-Commerce, speaking about how Botsify is changing the way businesses interact with customers. With automated systems that can learn, Chat Bots can replace many functions of human interactions by quickly addressing customer queries and suggest products/services that they are looking for, including completing customer orders within the chat window. Mr. Usama also gave various examples including Chat Bots ability to get more customer orders by reminding them of abandoned carts, compared with email reminders to customers.
The final talk of the segment was from Mesum Raza Hemani who spoke on harnessing power of A.I to power E-Commerce where A.I’s intuition can be tweaked to better serve customer, including improved NLP, Visual and Voice searching, better recommendations and purchase reminders. Improving efficiency of A.I can bring additional benefits, including price prediction that can accurately place product/service within reach of the target audience.
Dinner and Networking session was scheduled right after the awards presented by honorable guests Mr.Kanwal Masroor (Founder TECH) and Mr. Ahmed Rauf Essa (CEO Telemart). Karachi.AI community is organizing quarterly meetups and scheduled for next one in June 2018 to discuss latest trends in various segments and share the learning experiences amongst the stakeholders.
If you want to bring Karachi.AI to your university, please contact page for details or connect with Mr. Mesum Raza Hemani on Facebook/LinkedIn. In case you are interested in learning more and accessing event content/slide/videos/resources to learn about AI. YouTube: City.AI or Type Karachi.AI on YouTube.
Please visit http://www.facebook.com/karachidotai and join the group ww.facebook.com/groups/karachidotai to stay updated with latest news from community.

Press Release

The Federal capital witnessed an eventful evening where the audience was left nothing short then mesmerized. 3D lifestyle; licensee of the original Non-Surgical 3D Lipo technology finally launched in Pakistan with 10 clinics in Karachi, Lahore and

Islamabad.

3D Lifestyle introduces the ultimate combination of advanced technologies offering a complete & prescriptive approach to non-surgical face and body treatments in Pakistan.

Unlike any other treatment in the Medical Aesthetics landscape; 3D lifestyle, with their revolutionary-technology, performed a Non-Surgical fat loss treatment that took to the hearts of those present and millions online. When it showcased LIVE treatment session by Living up to its staggering claim of “Lose 1 Inch in 45 Minutes”.

The event was conducted at La Chirurgie in F8 Islamabad, which in every aspect is Pakistan’s premier and busiest Aesthetic clinics setup by Dr. Humayun Mohmand and his Partner Dr. Armeela Javed and their team of highly qualified Dermatologist, Cosmetologist and Plastic Surgeons.

Live Demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1v96gX-5pI

Dr. Humayun illustrated that 3D lipo’s ULTIMATE device comes handy for fat loss- skin tightening- facial lift and rejuvenations, all with no surgery or injectable. He further went deep into the science of Non-Surgically breaking up of fat cells through the most advanced Cavitation process where quad transducers ensure ultrasound waves cause severe disruption of the adipose cells, thus breaking down the fat cell membrane were this content is then disposed of the lymphatic system and the liver. The uniqueness of Cavitation is that you can see results from the 1st treatment!

Crylolipolysis also specifically targets fat cells Non-Surgically, by lowering the temperature to -6^o; it pinpoints the content of the fat cells and causes a crystallization: no other structure is affected by this process like cavitation the remaining content disposed of naturally. Crylolipolysis delivered results in 4-6 weeks and works excellent on all stubborn fat!

Radio frequency is another important function of 3D Lipo using advanced quad polar technology; radio frequency enables not only skin tightening for the face but also for the body! The concentration of collagen fibers and the regeneration of the collagen and elastin deposits tighten the skin layers creating a smoother, healthier and younger looking skin.

With the smile on his face Dr. Humayun with all his excitement said “the combination of 3D lipo’s industry standard protocols produces great results and I am delighted to be the first one in Pakistan to come on board with visionaries like Jawad Qureshi to introduce this to my patients.”

All eyes got glued to Mr. Jawad Qureshi; the Founder and CEO of 3D lifestyle when he took center stage “It’s an emotional day in my life! I once was 290 LBS and I felt the isolation in the society; today, I take a moment to thank those who are constantly working to innovate technologies! this is not just looking slimmer and younger, this is about to change and with 100 clinics soon to be launched in Pakistan, I trust our beautiful citizen will always stand out among any crowd”  Mr. Qureshi also emphasize on how important it was for 3D lifestyle to strategically launch with doctors who give attention to detail with best practices and no one could have been a better pick then Dr. Humayun Mohmand who without doubt has grandfathered himself in the Medical Aesthetics landscape of Pakistan!

Finally the wait was over when Mr. Jawad Qureshi requests Dr. Humayun to announce the result of the change in the abdominal circumference post treatment raising curiosity among the viewers!

Sure enough, there was a huge roar in the audience as magic had just been surfaced when Dr. Humayun announced and unbelievable circumference reduction of 3 inches of that patient over just a single treatment session! For many it was beyond

comprehension and bloggers sent videos and tweets that went viral in seconds across the national social media platform!

No one was more excited than the patient who underwent the treatment! Here is what he had to say “it was certainly history and I am in total shock! I owe a debt of gratitude to Mr. Qureshi and I want to thank you to everyone at 3D lifestyle especially

Dr. Humayun for educating me on the treatment not just by the procedure being non surgically pain free but with no such risks and complications I can now hope to lose the 5 inches I always wanted to and go back to my teen age size”

At the very end it was surreal to feel the energy that was reflecting from the attendees and how transformation in the health care phase evolved where a patient who in today’s in age has no time to work out or manage a diet, can simply take 45 minutes session during an office break and loose an inch of belly fat Non-Surgically.

International Women’s Day is a global celebration to recognize achievements made by women around the World and to support global actions needed to accelerate gender parity.

With the objective to create a more gender inclusive world, Jumpstart Pakistan has always facilitated Women Entrepreneurs in becoming responsive and responsible leaders.

On 8^th March, 2017 through a meaningful celebration & targeted bold action JumpStart Pakistan celebrated International Women’s Day at DotZero Karachi. This gathering was well attended by Women Entrepreneurs. Among the invited speakers were professional women including successful women entrepreneurs who have created a mark in their respective industry and also women who are holding senior posts in various organizations and among the government.

The session started with President of JumpStart Karachi chapter, Eram Abbasi, introducing to the women the aims and objectives of JumpStart, how it is stimulating and supporting the startup ecosystem in Pakistan and how it is organizing various events in different cities across Pakistan.

Ms. Naheed Memon, who is serving as Chairperson at the Sind Board of Investment was invited as guest of honor. She is a role model for being a successful professional woman. She was the CEO of a public policy think tank in Pakistan, and headed it’s research and advocacy function. She is also a Director in her family owned group of companies based in Karachi; the core business unit, Kings Apparel is one of the country’s largest knitwear manufacturers. In London, Naheed worked for Bank of America Merrill Lynch for a number of years. She was the Founder CEO of a management consultancy firm in London which serviced clients including PwC and foreign missions.

Ms Ayesha Fahad and Ms Sadaf Fatima both very prominent entrepreneurs who are successfully running their business were invited to share their success stories. Both the stories were an eye opener for the participants. The journey included success and failure phases, the support that they received by the society and people around them and many such interesting turning points specially how these ladies are managing their business along with family and kids.

Ms Ayesha Fahad, owner of Ashlamour and D2R brands narrated her journey from university days, where she initially was exposed to the concept of entrepreneurship and how she developed her interest to start her own business through participation in business plan competitions and exposure to organizations such as SMEDA (Small and Medium Enterprise Development Authority) and initiatives like Shell Tameer. She took her first risk by starting a handbag business by the name Ashlamour. She herself used to design high end ethnic bags and get it made at low cost, using labor that worked remotely.  At this stage she used to sell her product through various outlets. Later on she got married and due to the constant support by her husband and inlaws she continued her journey. Recently she has launched her second venture by the name D2R (Dream to Reality). This is all about Planners that are diaries with very ethnic and well thought out designs for women to plan their dreams ahead.

Mrs Sadaf Fatima, an engineer by education and an engineering consultant by profession was the next speaker to share her success story. Sadaf is running her engineering consulting firm with the name of M/S Sadaf Fatima. She narrated her story how, after graduation, she worked with a construction firm for a while which she couldn’t continue after her marriage. Due to her home responsibilities she started her home based consultation work. At this stage her former colleagues and university professors supported her in many ways including getting projects. She single handedly not only managed her initial projects but at the same time managed her house responsibilities alongside. She eventually rented a home nearby, dedicated top floor for office work, and gradually hired a team to deal with various projects by fulfilling all the job roles needed for success.

The major commonality among both entrepreneurs was that their families, including husbands, supported them well and their major motivation was the drive to be successful and respectable members of the society.

The participants showed great interest in the talks by the speakers. At the end of the session an open discussion was held where many recommendations were put forward to promote women entrepreneurs and help women play a vital role in the economy.

Click to view slideshow.

The past couple of decades have witnessed rapid advances in the field of Computing. The global economy has made it imperative for the international community to cooperate and collaborate with each other to explore and keep informed of the leading technological advancements.

In response to this need, The Department of Computer Science & Software Engineering, NED University of Engineering & Technology organized the 1^st International Conference on Innovations in Computer Science and Software Engineering (ICONICS-2016) on 15-16 December 2016.

The objectives for organizing this conference were two-fold. Firstly, to invite proponents of cutting-edge software technologies and research internationally, to share their latest research ideas, innovations and their vision of the way forward in computer science and software research and development. Secondly, the conference acted as a bridge between academia and industry which would help in promoting a vibrant research environment in NED University which is beneficial for the both.

An overwhelming response from the academia and industry was received. Attendees for the conference included representatives from Pakistan, USA, UK and Malaysia.

The conference comprised of six sessions which included:

• Artificial Intelligence, Speech recognition and pattern recognition
• Internet of Things (IoT) and Computer Systems
• Data Mining
• Computer Networks and Wireless Communication
• Emerging Trends in Computer Science and Software Engineering
• Poster presentation.

73 full papers were received from around the world. After critical review from the members of technical programme committee, 19 full papers were accepted. The acceptance rate for this conference was therefore 26%.

A workshop on Social Network Analysis was also organized. During this session participants had an opportunity to understand the fundamentals of community structures, evolution of communities, as well as case studies on the utilization of Social Network Analysis in real world problems. Workshop participants experienced state of the art Social Network Analysis software tools for analysing large and small social networks.

The conference provided a stimulating environment of cross-cultural and multi-disciplinary exchange of research ideas.

The main sponsor of ICONICS-2016 was the Higher Education Commission Pakistan. Abacus Consulting, Jaffer Business Systems Pvt. Ltd, Mare Consulting, United States Educational Foundation Pakistan, and Pak Suzuki Motor Co. Ltd. also contributed as sponsors.

The Chief Guest for the conference opening ceremony was Mr. Jam Mehtab Dahar (Honourable Minister of Education and Literacy Sindh), and Dr. Sikandar Ali Shoro (Special Assistant to the Chief Minister of Sindh for Information Science and Technology) was the Chief Guest at the closing ceremony. Guests of honor were Vice Chancellor of NED University Prof. Dr. Muhammad Afzal Haque, Dr. Zakiuddin Ahmed (President of OPEN Karachi), Mr. Ashraf Kapadia (Ex-MD Systems Limited), Prof. Dr. Muhammad Tufail Jokhio (Dean Faculty of Information Sciences and Humanities of NED University). Keynote Speakers for the conference were Prof. Dr. Junaid Ahmed Zubairi from State University New York, Prof. Dr. Nasreen Badruddin from Universiti Tekanologi PETRONAS Malaysia, Dr. Muhammad Atif Tahir from Northumbria University UK, Dr. Syed Saad Azhar Ali from Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS Malaysia, and Dr. Syed Faraz Hassan from Massey University New Zealand. Dr. Shariq Mahmood Khan, Secretary ICONICS-2016, presented the vote of thanks at the closing session.

The video above shows entrepreneurial experience of the two founders, Jan Paul Vegt and Liu Yong Gao, which is exactly what entrepreneurs around the world go through when taking a difficult decision. Being part of a budding tech-entrepreneurial ecosystem in Karachi I can feel their pain and how much difficult it was to risk taking a new path.

To briefly explain, these entrepreneurs have Rotterdam (Netherlands) based company that exports organic baby food to China. The air transport is too costly for their business and their orders via sea were delayed by two months due to fog. Considering these challenges, they decided to go with railway. Despite the fact Rotterdam is not fully connected with China through railway and most trains from China stop at Germany, railway still proves cheaper than air transport and one month faster than sea transport. For these entrepreneurs, and any other around the world, the best thing is to find the right balance between cost and benefits while guaranteeing delivery of products and services.

This decision does exactly that. It reduces the logistic cost by half compared to air freight and also prevent delays to delivery of products and services. It is not just limited to Jan and Liu only, there are many other entrepreneurs who are facing the same challenges in logistics. With an active railroad connected to European rail network, a third and reliable route opens up that will solve major logistics issue, bringing down cost of business. It will also allow travel options to and from China, giving a boost to both business travels and tourism.

With just sea and air freight, the trade volume between Europe and China is about half a trillion Euro and has been growing steadily. It is likely to touch 650 billion Euros by year 2020 and to facilitate this growth the additional route of rail will be key component.

The implications of this decision are quite significant. For example, China manufactures products for entrepreneurs and businesses from around the world. Innovative startups from incubators like Startup Chile/Y-Combinator and those who run campaigns on Kickstarter/Indiegogo get manufacturing done from China and deliver the products globally. There will be major cost saving benefits with the use of rail network and many other locations will also open up from where the train passes through. By extending the network into South Asia and South-East Asia, through the upcoming CPEC and BCIM corridors, the trade volume will increase even more significantly. The South Asian and South-East Asian markets will further open up to European trade and entrepreneurs and small scale businesses stand to benefit with this connectivity. This will allow innovators from Asia to take advantage of a more connected route and a much more reliable logistics system.

Which means an innovator from Pakistan can get products made in China and have them delivered in Europe and Asia at lower cost and much more convenience. It will also bypass some of the trade barriers that make it difficult to do business between Asian countries and with Europe.

The benefits of this are immense and with growing global trade, the opportunities for innovators, entrepreneurs and global businesses will only get better.

Press Release

Karachi, Sindh, June 30, 2016 – Sindh Education Foundation (SEF), Govt. of Sindh officially launched a program here on June 30, 2016 to establish middle and high schools in the province in a bid with an overall objective to gradually to bridge the upsettingly huge gap between primary and post-primary education in the province.

Under the banner of the SEF Middle and High School (SMHS) Program, with the support of Sindh Government’s Education & Literacy Department, the Foundation has finalized selection of approximately 60 School Operators for establishment of around 125 Middle/High schools in Sindh. These schools are planned to be set up in areas where there are no post-primary schools.

With financial and technical support extended to these post-primary schools, SEF would accomplish enrollment of 30,000 students in Phase I, making a small breakthrough. The overall target assigned to the Foundation under this program is to reach out to estimated 200,000 students in the coming 05 years.

SEF, which is a semi-autonomous body working under a Board of Governors headed by the Chief Minister Sindh and with Senior Minister for Education and Literacy Department as its vice chairman, would provide financial and technical support for establishment and management of middle and high schools.

According to the SEMIS Data of the year 2014-15, 90% of the public schools in the province are primary, leaving perturbing 10% of all three types of schools combined, i.e. Middle/Elementary, Secondary and Higher Secondary. According to the data, 42,342 schools are primary, 2,336 are middle/elementary, 1,752 are secondary and only 294 are higher secondary. One of the reasons behind the huge dropout ratio to post-primary education in the province, as evident from the numbers mentioned above, is lack of primary schools.

Addressing the gathering, SEF Managing Director, Naheed S. Durrani said, “We want to change the perspective and approach towards education in the province. We want to support establishment of schools that can empower the students.”

“It’s time we provide students with the quality schooling which is aligned with modern methods of teaching and learning supplemented by ICT,” she added.

The session was attended by two members of the SEF BoG, who have recently joined the board namely Mr. Nazir A. Tunio and Mr. Husnain Qamar Shah. Both the members are presently involved in multifaceted activities relating to education in Sindh.

Operators have been selected after a comprehensive, transparent, and merit-based process from scrutiny of applications and to selection of successful operators. This involved an exhaustive to physical verification of proposed sites and, finally, selection of applicants – the entire process lasted for six months, from January to June 2016. The selected operators were oriented on the philosophy of the program, quality-check mechanisms and legal bindings of the contract being made under the program.

Who’d have thought the country better known for all the wrong reasons like terrorism, bomb blasts and what not, will make an IT industry one of the fastest growing industries in Pakistan. The country with immense raw talent continues to rise on the globe as Pakistan started to show its existence with a better image.

The new young generation of game developers in the country has helped industry to grow to an estimated $3 billion. This is due to the hard work of many young and creative Pakistani entrepreneurs and gamers like Shahid Ahmed who won Develop Industry Excellence Award in 2014 for his immense contribution for Sony Entertainment. Sumail, 16, a Pakistani gamer made history when he helped his team to win Dota 2 Asian Championship in 2015.

According to a report, Pakistan employs more than 25,000 people in software exports. There are many start-up companies established by young developers like Mindstorm by Ahmed, Kwick Games and Caramel Studio to name a few.

Pakistani developers came up with innovative apps like Groopic, Whacksy Taxi, Ranger Sniper Shooter 3D and Stick Cricket which got recognition from international media. In fact Whacksy Taxi became the most downloaded apps in 25 countries. These success stories emerging from Pakistan caught the attention of internationally recognized game developers like UBISOFT, EA, Microsoft Studios, SONY Entertainment and MTV Games etc. These game developers came up with the most addictive games like Call of Duty, Assassin Creed and Crysis 1 and Crysis 2.

Islamabad based talented group of developers came up with the game called Dream Chaser which was published by the makers of Angry Bird which has over 500 million downloads, Whoa! Isn’t it something to be proud of?  

According to PAS report, Pakistan will have 40 million smart phone users by the end of 2016. As the trend is shifting to smart phones, Pakistani developers are quick and receptive to change.

Pakistani game makers develop several apps targeting the local market and for that purpose they keep an eagle eye on national affairs. One of the games is Extreme Metro Run, which depicts the Rowdiness of our society by smashing Metro bus in Islamabad.

Similarly, the growing trend of celebrating western festivals such as Halloween is inspiring our developers to come up with interesting themes. One of the examples is Pump Jump. The swiftness of our developers is commendable as they come up with an interesting game as soon as they notice new trend emerging in Pakistan.

According to the reports, the trend is shifted from console games to the social media and mobile games. The further research says that the game industry is likely to become $41 billion industry by 2017. These estimates are well-taken by our entrepreneurs as they are planning to capitalize the information by collaborating with international investors.

One of the Pakistani companies is Kwick Games. They have alliance with internationally renowned company Mühlbauer AG and several others to bring revolution in IT industry by bringing new and digital softwares.  

IT industry in Pakistan generates more than $2 Billion annual revenue. Despite of the fact, there are several challenges and loops which are faced by our IT industry and people of Pakistan. One of them is the gap between IT industry and Academic Institutions. Students are not encouraged and brought to a platform where they can exhibit their talent. Similarly, the cyber crime keep our local smart phones users reluctant to disclose their credit card information which ultimately drives our game developers look out to international market for In-app purchases.
With all these problems there’s a silver lining as PASHA (Pakistan Software Houses Association) is working tirelessly to cope up with the current challenges. According to recent reports, Pakistan is now listed in anti- money laundering body Financial Action Task Force (FATF) white list to support E-payment system by inviting PayPal, Amazon and other giant online-stores in Pakistan. Similarly, with rapidly increasing 3G and 4G LTE users in Pakistan, investors from China and Europe are gradually coming so we can expect our IT industry to grow. If current on-going talks with foreign investors are put to actions then the IT industry will prevail at the rapid pace in future.   

Press Release: Launch of QnE, the most convenient online grocery shopping portal

Karachi, October 3, 2015 – The event exclusively marked the launch of QnE, shared the vision behind its business and demonstrated how it can reshape the e-commerce industry in Pakistan. The event took place at 3.00 pm on Saturday, 3rd October 2015 in Pearl Continental, Karachi.

This event hosted QnE’s valued business partners, bloggers and media persons and provided them an opportunity to understand how QnE aims to simplify consumers’ lives and deliver the best customer experience in the industry.
Mr. Ebrahim Qassim, CEO of Premier Group gave the keynote speech at the beginning of the session, followed by an introductory presentation from Mr. Osama Qassim, CEO of QnE. Mr. Osama Qassim discussed the existing problems people face while purchasing grocery. He asserted that QnE strives to provide a quick and hassle-free solution to customers. He also remarked that the vision of QnE is to play a role in expanding the online community of Pakistan by becoming the nation’s favorite ecommerce platform.

The event also included addresses from guest speakers. Mr. Abrar Hassan, CEO of National Foods Limited discussed “Changing consumption habits and rise of digital media”. He strongly felt people are getting busier day by day. According to him effective use of technology helps in managing different tasks easily. He felt grocery is a time taking, tedious and a boring task and said if there is someone who is willing to do this task, its best is to use their service.

Dr. Zeelaf, CEO and MD of English Biscuit Manufacturer, believes the generation of today is born in the digital era, is busy and lazy and has started to use the easy way of relying on technology for food and grocery deliveries. The future of e-commerce and tech startups is bright as we are living in the time when most of our work is done through technology.

About QnE

QnE is a customer oriented e-commerce platform that aims to take care of shopping needs in a SMART way; making life easier for all customers.

QnE is Pakistan’s premier online grocery store with services initially in Karachi. The company’s aim is to enhance the online community by becoming the nation’s favorite e-commerce platform through its very own SMART fundamentals.

The unique SMART fundamentals of QnE are:

• Synergy through innovation
• Matchless Customer Service
• Accountable to the core
• Revitalizing shopping through technology
• Teamwork with enthusiasm and family spirit

QnE is a subsidiary of Premier Group of Companies.

ABOUT PREMIER GROUP

Premier group, incorporated in 1971 has diversified investments in various industries, i.e. pharmaceutical, textile, FMCG, distribution and e-commerce.

One had dark chocolate top with white beads filling. Mildly sweet, it was light to eat and I felt I can eat multiple of these without loosing appetite. Another was quite unusual, a peanut butter donut. Decorated with brown top and peanuts, the taste of peanut butter was strong and it even stuck to top of the mouth like traditional peanut butter spread. Compared to the first one this one was quite heavy and one was quite enough for me (not a peanut butter fan either).  Third donut that I tried a while later was star shaped with green top, and it was tasty. Like the first one not much heavy either. The closest donut taste I can compare it with would be Boston Creme from Dunkin, but without the heavy cream filling in the middle. In a way it was good because I was able to actually enjoy the donut rather than worry about creme jumping out from the donut with every bite.

KARACHI, 20 AUGUST, 2015:

The main aim of the event was to brief the bloggers about Lamudi’s phenomenal success over its two years of operations in Pakistan and introduce them to its Google inspired work culture. Saad gave a presentation to the bloggers about Lamudi’s achievements and its happy productive work environment.

The accomplishments included Lamudi’s launch of Android and iOS apps in June 2014, which have been downloaded over 535,000 times since. Other milestones achieved, included its launch of a property magazine, conducting real estate empowerment programs and lastly the launch of its new developments section on the website.

Saad also shed light on Lamudi’s employee-centric work culture, which according to him is the ingredient behind Lamudi’s growth and makes it different from more traditional work places. Lamudi has a flat management structure, where all employees from the CEO to the sales, marketing, finance, human resources and customer services departments sit together in an open-plan office.

Other perks of working at Lamudi include being entitled to unlimited snacks, access to TV while working, monthly entertainment dinners and lots more.

This presentation was followed by a networking session where bloggers could ask Saad anything about the property portal, its journey from a startup to a full grown business and the future of tech industry in Pakistan. The hashtag for the meet up was #asklamudi.

It ended with a scrumptious a la carte dinner and a photo session of the bloggers with the Lamudi team. Overall, it was a fun-filled evening and was thoroughly enjoyed by the bloggers and Lamudi team alike.

I took out my phone, clicked a picture and shared with my friends on Facebook and WattsApp to show how crowded it was. After that I listened to the panelists and various topics they touched, from missing persons whose case was taken up by Supreme Court and nothing happened despite over a hundred hearings to long march consisting of 20 people. A 3000 km journey, starting from Press Club Quetta right up to Islamabad, after which still nothing came out except criminal silence from the government and complete ignorance by LEAs.

This was the 5th time trouble had stirred up in Balochistan. As the panelists highlighted, it started back in March 1948 when the sovereign status of Kalat and Balochistan (as agreed by Jinnah at the time of creation of Pakistan) was taken away that Baloch resistance began and it continues to stir every decade or so. People are not senseless or brainless to keep fighting, there must be some problems that led to first resistance, then second, and then third right up to fifth. Grievances, whatever they are, were not addressed and neither resolved, leading to Balochistan becoming a no-man’s land where multiple powers are trying to gain dominance.

Farzana Baloch talked about her endeavors to find her brother that was kidnapped by intelligence agencies. Mama Qadeer spoke at length about his missing son that turned up dead, all this while not knowing why he was taken away, what were his crimes and why wasn’t he punished through the courts. Mohammed Ali Talpur gave historical details of the events that started Baloch movement for self-governance and Pakistani state’s heavy handedness since (which includes borrowing helicopters from Iran to attack Baloch people). He maintained a clear stance, even during the Q&A session, that he wasn’t Pakistani.

Some interesting points were mentioned. For example, Mama Qadeer said that in a television program the anti-Baloch elements claimed Mama Qadeer was given 1 lac rupees for every kilometer he traveled. The journey was of 3000 kilometers that translate to 3 crore rupees. Mama Qadeer has photo copy of 5 crore rupee cheque that was given to him by Balochistan government which he returned after making a copy and said which figure is higher? 3 crores or 5 crores?

Mr. Talpur gave simple explanation. He said he is Baloch who is demanding his right of self-governance back that was agreed at the time of creation of Pakistan and taken away by force, subjugating the people through military. Baloch have history of centuries, Pakistan is a state that is barely 70 years old. Pakistan, as a nation, does not exist because it is a country created in the name of Islam and not because of the nations that existed within its borders. So how can those with centuries of history would forget their past and become a paste-less person for the sake of a country that doesn’t even own its own past of its creation?

Wusatullah Khan was vocal from media side since he works for BBC Urdu. He told about the challenges of media, where the only ones dare to write anything are English newspapers since they are not read by the masses. Urdu newspapers were so heavily censored during Zia that a sense of self-censorship emerged within media that works to this day and topics like Balochistan, MQM and missing people are unfavorable because they get owners into trouble. Then any negative topic about China and middle east countries (especially Saudi Arabia) is a BIG NO because there is no way they can handle the pressure that would come their way. Balochi language has become a taboo for written material because anything written in it is assumed to be by and for terrorists. Since the military can’t be bothered with keeping translators, they banned the use of local language altogether for literacy, education and media while promoting non-local languages including Urdu and English that can be controlled. Media desks in Balochistan do not forward news because doing so will get the media persons killed by one part or the other, and Press Club of Turbat seems to be empty for sometime now.

A short documentary was played about missing persons that was made in 2007, and I recalled seeing some of the clips. This was towards the end of Musharraf’s time when Chief Justice was dismissed and locked up by Musharraf on charges that were already proven false in court, and missing persons case was what lead to judicial crisis that nearly toppled the regime. One clip was of the plight of a mother whose husband was missing since long and she finally held demonstration in front of LEAs in Balochistan where his son was then arrested and dragged so inhumanly that his shalwar came off which was ripped out and he was thrown into the van like a grain sack in semi-nude condition, his mother and sister crying and screaming with no one of authority willing to listen.

The Q&A session followed including questions asked via emails and also by the audience. I believe most of these questions touched most subjects and the panelists answered them as well without reservation. One person from Hazara community also asked about why solidarity was not shown when for 5 days Hazaras kept dead bodies under rain in protest, to which Mama Qadeer gave response that the Baloch Nationalists were certainly there and so were Hazaras with Baloch Nationalists when Long March began.

After quite a few questions, and it was Sabeen Mahud (T2F founder and owner) who has handing the mic to the audience, I was the last to raise hand. Sabeen recognized me since we have interactions in the past during various events, both at T2F and outside, and she gave me the mic instantly.

My question was simple, why civilian institutions and governments couldn’t do anything about Baloch rights if military governments were so much repressive? Surprisingly, this was answered the longest. Mr. Talpur began that establishment and government authorities were on the same page regarding Baloch rights and when military decides, the civil authorities can’t do anything except follow. The case of Supreme Court was pointed out where after a hundred hearings, it is now pretty much in cold storage and no further progress being made in the case since neither court nor LEAs are interested in the case. After Mr. Talpur it was Mama Qadeer who spoke and he spoke from his heart, where he simply dismissed civilian governments completely. He gave multiple examples where, when civil governments tried to intervene, the military simply gave a shut up call. He started with the Long March where sitting Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif asked them to meet. When the group demanded they will only meet if General Pasha, General Kiani and one member of international body will also be part of the meeting, PM simply said I don’t have power to do so. Similarly when Zardari was approached by one person to get his released and even paid 3 million, Zardari called General Pasha to release the person’s kid. He was simply told to mind his own business and few months later the dead body of the young man was found. Mama Qadeer gave multiple examples where people were told their missing relatives will turn up on Eid and instead dead bodies were found, later on clarifying that they never promised if they would be alive.

When the panel had spoken, the session was ended and everyone first clapped for panel and then for Sabeen Mahmud for her bravery to hold the session. Her smile is the last thing I remember, standing just inches away as she took in the applause and strode forward to talk to the panelists. I made my way out towards the car, noticing two people in Shalwar Kameez standing at the corner of the street, one in greyish white while another in light blue (drivers?) as I sat in my car and drove to home.

An hour later, Sabeen was shot dead after leaving from T2F and the news reached me after another two hours.

And Sabeen was silenced for unsilencing Balochistan!

P.S. Within hours after the session, Facebook and Twitter profiles of T2F (The Second Floor, the cultural establishment where the session was held) were closed down.