• 4 months ago
#internetdown #Internetoutage #firewall #mariamemon #pmshehbazsharif #sawalyehai #Senatorafnanullah

Is the government harming the IT industry due to its political narrative? Afnan Ullah's Statement
Transcript
00:00Sir, if you wanted to test a software firewall, why didn't you trust them?
00:06Why didn't you tell them that this is the phase, it will take so long, this is the method?
00:10I mean, they have such genuine concerns, how will they recover?
00:14Will it be written in your legacy that the IT industry will be ruined?
00:19Look, the topic of reputational loss is very genuine.
00:24The reason is that if you want to take a business from someone sitting outside,
00:28now you have a meeting with him, in which you have to finalize the details, and you miss that meeting.
00:32Or he has sent you messages on WhatsApp, that send me these things.
00:36And you didn't get it, you got it, so you can't open it.
00:39I mean, there is a problem for you.
00:41Did PMS tell you? They don't know, someone is misguiding them.
00:44I have raised this issue a lot on relevant quarters, and we are pushing it a lot.
00:50More improvement can be brought in this, and I will raise it in our next meeting,
00:56that if we give a schedule, that if there is such a thing in the future,
01:00then we give a schedule, like there is also a schedule for load shedding.
01:03So at least they can plan, that this issue will be on time,
01:08so we can basically not do it on that day, or not do it on that hour.
01:12How will they do monitoring?
01:14For example, you have to regulate all the data, you do load shedding in it,
01:17that we will regulate the data for 2 hours a day, not 2 hours.
01:20I am saying that if such a requirement comes in the future, there is no requirement now.
01:24But if a system is down, if there is an issue of submarine cable,
01:29there can be many other issues.
01:31So we should make a procedure for it, I will propose it in the next meeting,
01:35that we should make a procedure, so that the people who are working,
01:38can also do their work, and the other people should also not be affected.
01:41Sir, political, because there is a political angle to it,
01:43it is obvious that you have a problem with social media,
01:45the political narrative.
01:46So in order to curtail that political narrative,
01:49you are not doing any irreparable damage to the IT industry, God forbid?
01:55See, God willing, I hope, because we have been assured,
01:58that the matter will be resolved in the next 3 days.
02:01Today it was much better, if you check.
02:03How will it be?
02:04Sir, please tell us a little, that the people who are listening,
02:06maybe their connection is affected by their businesses,
02:08how will it be fixed, how is it being sorted out?
02:10See, it is obvious that in its implementation,
02:13they have to put some filters,
02:16actually this is done by the firewall, deep packet inspection.
02:19In deep packet inspection, the payload that is being moved,
02:23they go and inspect it, to see what is actually inside it,
02:27and it is obvious that you have to put a very big setup,
02:30and get it inspected, that is why the matter is probably slowing down,
02:34and you have to put its filters along with these things,
02:37so that you can specify what kind of data you want.
02:40Are there more firewalls?
02:41Because Shaza Khawaja Sahiba said that there are firewalls all over the world,
02:44apart from China and Russia, in the rest of the free world, in America.
02:47Yes, yes.
02:48Where ever you have a major, in western countries.
02:50It is there in America, it is there in the UK,
02:52because we have spoken there, they are saying that it is not there.
02:55No, no, I am telling you about the UK,
02:59I have studied there, I have done my job there,
03:02I have started a business there,
03:04it is there, their GCHQ is there, it murders.
03:07Similarly, there are more,
03:11if its implementation would have been better,
03:14then it would have been seamless, we would not have come to know.
03:16So whose responsibility is that of the Ministry of IT?
03:18Somebody has to take responsibility.
03:19No, no, we are doing it,
03:21we will raise it in the next meeting,
03:23that we will give a procedure for it.
03:24You are saying a vague thing,
03:25earlier you were not accepting that there are firewalls,
03:27now you have accepted that there are firewalls.
03:28But I have given you in the meeting.
03:30You are very clear, that is why we have called you,
03:32because you are giving us a very clear view,
03:34but it is in front of you, you are not accepting it,
03:36you have accepted it, you have told it,
03:38on that basis I am asking you a question,
03:40the loss of reputation, is it recoverable from here,
03:42or will it take time?
03:44Look, whenever there is a reputation loss,
03:47it takes time,
03:49it will not happen that tomorrow you will go and say,
03:51that I have fixed it.
03:53Your old customers,
03:55maybe they have a relationship with you,
03:59but especially the freelancers,
04:01if you see,
04:03they are doing small jobs,
04:05they have an engagement of 2 hours,
04:09or an engagement of 2 days,
04:11they come to a market place,
04:13you bid, they take it,
04:15so when that work happens,
04:17if there is a reputation loss,
04:19it is not that easy to come back.
04:21The second thing is,
04:23where we talk,
04:27that we are giving managed services on the back end,
04:29or there are contact centers,
04:32I don't know to what extent they have been impacted,
04:34if the customer experience of their end users is affected,
04:38then again,
04:40you have to give them that confidence.
04:42If you go to a restaurant,
04:44and if you get a wrong meal there,
04:46then you don't go to that restaurant again.
04:48But this future forecast,
04:50do you think it is a one time issue,
04:52or because you have your projections,
04:54after all your businesses,
04:56now you will add that risk factor,
04:58what do you think, is it a one time issue?
05:00Look, there are interruptions,
05:02in technology,
05:04I have a background in technology,
05:06so I will say that you can never say that
05:08there will never be an interruption.
05:10If I take a recent example,
05:12and I am not justifying any action,
05:14but you know,
05:16because of Microsoft,
05:18there has been an impact all over the world.
05:20All we request,
05:22and we have talked about this
05:24with Pasha's firm,
05:26if something like this is happening in the future,
05:28then better planning,
05:30and maybe you can sandbox it,
05:32and do some testing,
05:34and bring the stakeholders
05:36in a proper way,
05:38with confidence.
05:40Did anyone engage you before the fireball?
05:42Did you know about this?
05:44At least as an industry,
05:46generally we did not know,
05:48if you see in the last 8-10 days,
05:50generally people
05:52keep airing that this issue is coming,
05:54so as such,
05:56we did not have any information.
05:58So before that,
06:00no one engaged you?
06:02At least in this case,
06:04we are engaged,
06:06as an industry representative,
06:08we are engaged with the government,
06:10I have talked to you about many things,
06:12that we work with the government
06:14on tech destination,
06:16we are not involved in this.
06:18To be very honest,
06:20this is a very simple question,
06:22in the government,
06:24does anyone have any doubt,
06:26about the level of testing failure,
06:28after which people are shouting,
06:30or they are seeing it from a political angle,
06:32that it happens politically,
06:34like political collateral damage,
06:36this happens.
06:38In this, the government is looking
06:40at this issue very seriously,
06:42and we are trying very hard
06:44to resolve this issue as soon as possible.
06:46Let's call them and ask them.
06:48I have agreed to this,
06:50I am saying that in the next meeting,
06:52there should be a process,
06:54if this work would have been done
06:56according to the schedule,
06:58then there wouldn't have been so much shouting.
07:00Everyone would have managed
07:02according to their own schedule.
07:04So we will keep our recommendations,
07:06and there is a lot of awareness
07:08on the level of the government,
07:10because there is a lot of reaction
07:12from everywhere,
07:14so we want to take it forward
07:16in a better way,
07:18and of course we don't want,
07:20as you know,
07:223G and 4G didn't exist in this country,
07:24so after the market opened,
07:26businesses started,
07:28otherwise there was no business scene.
07:30But this is your legacy,
07:32in which freelancers and tech companies
07:34are leaving the country.
07:36We will hold you accountable
07:38to your word,
07:40we will keep talking about this issue,
07:42because these young people,
07:44especially the young people
07:46who work in the tech industry,
07:48in Pakistan,
07:50we know the situation of the economy,
07:52we know the situation of the job sector,
07:54how many new jobs are coming,
07:56we all know that this is their fault.
07:58These are the people who are sitting at home,
08:00using the internet on their own,
08:02creating opportunities for themselves.
08:04So if the government can't create opportunities,
08:06then at least don't snatch it from the children
08:08who are working hard.

Recommended