pakistani perspective

Asian Britons seek discount plastic surgery in Pakistan - Independent

2006-01-24T05:56:00.000-08:00

A growing number of well-educated, British-born Asian women in their 20s are combining annual visits to relatives in Pakistan with cut-price, nip-and-tuck operations, surgeons say. Hundreds of Pakistani Britons are booking cheap plastic surgery in their ancestral homeland, three times the number just four years ago. Nose jobs, tummy tucks, liposuction and breast enlargements are the favoured treatments for many who feel "pressure to have Western features" but who want to pay only a fraction of what they would be charged in Britain. The women are mostly middle-class professionals who take 10 days out of their time abroad to travel from the small villages where their extended families live to Islamabad, Lahore or Karachi where almost all the country's 70 registered plastic surgeons are based.

India to finally pay up 1996 Cricket World Cup dues - Reuters

2006-01-24T05:47:00.000-08:00

"India will hand over money owed to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) from the 1996 World Cup, an Indian cricket official said on Monday. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has been holding around $4 million belonging to the Pakistan-India-Sri Lanka Committee (PILCOM) which organised the 1996 World Cup. This was due to long-pending tax cases in India, some of which are yet to be settled, Indian board treasurer N.Srinivasan told reporters. 'Pending the resolution of the income-tax matters, their (Pakistan's) portion of the money would be released on the PCB furnishing a suitable guarantee,' he said. India and Pakistan are leading a joint south Asian bid to stage the 2011 World Cup. "

Pakistan to show Bollywood film - BBC

2006-01-24T05:44:00.000-08:00

A film from Bollywood's movie industry is to be screened in Pakistani cinemas - despite an official ban on Indian films lasting almost half a century. Sohni Mahiwal - based on folklore popular in the Punjab region - has been given special exemption. The Pakistan Film Producers Association said the move did not mean the overall ban on Indian films was being lifted. Pakistan banned screenings of Indian films in 1965, when the countries fought the second of their three wars ... said the distributor of Sohni Mahiwal, a 1984 romance and Indo-Russian joint production, had approached Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf for the waiver. The film's distributor, Ali Zafar, said he had imported the film in 1989 and had fought a legal battle since then to screen the film in Pakistan.

So an American comic walks into Pakistan - Toronto Star

2006-01-19T23:37:00.000-08:00

With a provocative title like Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World, how could Albert Brooks not grab our attention?

The picture opens with Brooks being cold-shouldered by a real-life movie director (Penny Marshall) and casting director (Victoria Burrows) before being inexplicably chosen by the U.S. government for a top-secret project. (Maybe the President saw Finding Nemo.) His mission, should he decide to accept it, is to journey to Muslim lands to find out what makes people there laugh. Perhaps if Americans understand Muslims better, the reasoning goes, they might feel less inclined to fear or want to kill them. The premise is potentially hilarious, not to mention seriously provocative, and there are several ways Brooks could have approached it. He opts for the path of least offence, by making himself the butt of his mild humour.

Muslim investors top 2005 faith funds table - MSN Money

2006-01-08T12:39:00.000-08:00

In a year when the Standard & Poor's 500 index has nudged up barely 5 per cent, investors would have done better by investing according to the principles of the Koran. Among the small but rapidly growing band of faith-based mutual funds, the main US Muslim fund has beaten funds run according to the principles of the Catholics, the Mennonites, the Presbyterians, and the evangelical Christians. In fact, with the $100m (£58m, €84m) Islamic Amana Growth fund posting a 22 per cent return for the year, they have pretty much beaten everyone, according to data provided by Lipper.

America's first Islamic sorority formed - WP Herald

2006-01-08T12:27:00.000-08:00

America's first Islamic sorority is more about God than being Greek. There will be no beer at Gamma Gamma Chi functions, in obedience to Islamic law, nor will there be group fraternizing with the opposite sex. "Partying is allowed in Islam, but it's how you party," said Althia Collins, an Alexandria businesswoman who has helped create it. "You can have fun with girls and it doesn't have to include men."

Thirteen women at the University of Kentucky will form the sorority's first college chapter this spring, and another group is waiting to start at the University of Maryland's Baltimore campus. A citywide chapter in the District, made up of women from several local universities, is also in the works. Along with pledges, there will be prayer to Allah. Instead of hazing, there's hijab, the scarf some devout Muslim women wear. Covering one's hair is not mandated within Gamma Gamma Chi; in fact, four out of the five board members do not wear one. Mrs. Collins' daughter, Imani Abdul-Haqq, came up with concept for Gamma Gamma Chi while rushing sororities at Guilford College in Greensboro, N.C. As Mrs. Abdul-Haqq entered the room wearing her scarf, "They looked at her like she had three heads," Mrs. Collins said.

Earthquake Rattles Political Landscape in Pakistan - VOA

2005-12-01T08:42:00.000-08:00

The massive response to the Kashmir earthquake has changed political relationships in Pakistan. The United States and Kashmir's Islamic parties are gaining friends, while President Pervez Musharraf and his allies are suffering in popularity.

Social commentators say the massive quake also upended the political landscape. The public is questioning Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's handling of the crisis, which many victims complained was slow. On the other hand, outsiders, including the United States, are seeing an unexpected spike in popularity.

Every few minutes U.S. military helicopters fly over Muzaffarabad's congested streets. In the city, more than 200 Americans soldiers run a field hospital. Army physicians say they have already treated nearly 2,000 patients. Doctors say the hospital is doing more than just saving lives, it is also improving the U.S. reputation on the front lines of the war on terror. Elizabeth Clawson is one of the Army doctors at the camp.

But the United States is not alone in winning the hearts of quake victims. On the other side of town, another relief operation is also under way, staffed by a very different group of volunteers. A member of the Islamic group Hizbullah Mujahideen uses an old megaphone to offer food and shelter to weary quake victims. The group runs a sprawling relief camp on the edge of Muzaffarabad. It is the largest of at least half a dozen operations run by known militant groups in the quake zone.

Old Cinema in Pakistan Gets New Life After Quake - IHT

2005-11-30T10:59:00.000-08:00

Tucked inside a popular bazaar, there once was a place where women shimmied their hips in full Technicolor splendor. Today, it is a refuge for women who can barely lift their legs. It is an odd transformation, wrought by the devastating earthquake on Oct. 8.

The Melody Cinema had sat fallow for two years, ever since a mob of religious radicals set it on fire and reduced it to nothing more than a charred, trash-filled shell. Today, it is reborn as the Melody Relief and Rehabilitation Center, and the occupants of its 53 beds are women with broken backs.

The youngest patient is 13, the oldest 50. Most of the others are in their 20s and 30s, women who had been cooking and cleaning at home when the earth shook and roofs collapsed. They have all undergone surgery for spinal-cord injuries, and the Melody is a way station of sorts, a place to rest and recover before returning to their homes or whatever is left of them. Their futures are full of uncertainty. Even if they can get into a wheelchair, how will they survive in the terraced hills back home? If they are destined to be paralyzed for life, how will they take care of their homes and families?

Among the married patients, there is this aching question: Will their husbands abandon them for an able-bodied woman? Among the unmarried, another agony: What man will have them now?

Pakistani entrepreneur acquires French designer - Fashion

2005-11-30T02:49:00.000-08:00

THE frills and flounces of couture are to embrace the button-down world of Silicon Valley with the sale of Emanuel Ungaro, the Paris fashion house, to the internet tycoon, Asim Abdullah. The luxury label, best known for its brightly hued floral designs, is being sold by Salvatore Ferragamo, the Italian footwear firm, for an undisclosed price. Ungaro’s resident designer, Vincent Darre, will be dumped in favour of a designer with fresh vision, whose identity has not yet been decided on.

Ungaro has fallen on hard times, running up €21 million (£14 million) in losses last year on revenues of €30 million, according to reports in the textile trade. It is the second loss-making French couture brand to surrender to America this year, following the disposal in January of Christian Lacroix to Falic, a Miami-based duty-free retailer. Ferragamo, which acquired Ungaro in 1996, has been looking for a way out of the high-cost and low-profit world of haute couture and Ungaro has found an unexpected benefactor in the form of a California-based venture captialist.

Born in Karachi, 42-year old Asim Abdullah made his fortune from hi-tech investments, notably the sale of his company Veo Systems, to Commerce One, the business-to-business internet marketplace. He made $300 million (£171 million) from the flotation of Commerce One in 2001 and bought himself a $15 million mansion on Pebble Beach, a highly sought-after piece of California real estate, only to see it burned down by arsonists two years later. Last summer, the entrepreneur was spotted in Paris at Ungaro’s fashion show, the first clue that the Silicon valley millionaire was to become a fashion sugar daddy.

Asim Abdullah is an active member of the Pakistani entrepreneurial community in the Silicon Valley. He is a charter member of OPEN's Silicon Valley chapter. I found the following on him in a 2000 issue of Silicon India:

In 1981, teenager Asim Abdullah came to the US from his native Karachi. He enrolled at the University of Michigan to study electrical engineering, and ended up earning a bachelors degree in computer science as well.

After graduating, Abdullah went on to work for Rolm Systems and later for Taligent, a joint venture company started by Apple, Hewlett-Packard and IBM. In 1996, Abdullah quit just months before the alliance was abandoned, and joined CommerceNet, an organization funded by the US government’s Department of Commerce to help the country transition to e-commerce. Since then, he hasn’t looked back — except with success and satisfaction, that is.

As executive director of CommerceNet, Abdullah established global alliances and, even more importantly, established a rapport with Jay Tenenbaum, a technological visionary whose company was the first to conduct an electronic transaction and auction over the Web. In 1997, he and Tenenbaum took technology developed at CommerceNet and started Veo Systems, with the objective of developing technology to facilitate the even more lucrative B2B, or business-to-business, e-commerce. They also secured funding from the National Institute of Science and Technology, a Department of Commerce organization.

According to Abdullah, the biggest challenge for Veo was in crafting XML, a programming language that emerged from the publishing business into a useful tool for software engineering. With that vision in mind, Veo made some smart market moves and assembled a 35-person team, hiring proficient XML programmers from faraway lands including Russia. He also hired two other sets of programming talent: those experienced in distributed objects from, notably, Sun Microsystems, and those that were already crafting e-commerce software.

Veo established a lead over most other companies while Abdullah, its CEO, led
the company to crucial initiatives. Late last year, Veo merged with Commerce One, another hot B2B company poised for an initial public offering. When, a few months later, Commerce One went public, Abdullah was sitting on a pile of wealth. He holds 1.8 million shares of Commerce One that are valued currently at over $300 million.

Abdullah is clearly enjoying the fruits of being an early mover.

WHO investigating Congo fever in Karachi - Reuters

2005-11-29T21:11:00.000-08:00

A three-member medical team has been despatched to Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi to oversee the health situation after reports of some 40 suspected cases of Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) over the last two months. At least two people suspected of having contracted CCHF, including one female doctor, died last week, according to health officials.

Health authorities on Sunday sent blood samples from the five suspected CCHF patients to the National Institute of Virology in South Africa for further tests to ascertain the disease. CCHF is one of the severest human viral diseases. Symptoms include headaches, muscular pain, vomiting, massive bleeding through the nose, mouth and ears and internal organs. According to WHO officials, 200 cases of CCHF have been reported since the first case appeared in 1976, out of which some 63 people had died of the disease.

HIV/AIDS set to spread in Pakistan, warns UNAIDS - Reuters

2005-11-27T20:10:00.000-08:00

Pakistan could see the rapid spread of HIV/AIDS among the general population due to a combination of high-risk behaviour and limited knowledge, warns the latest report from the UN joint programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). The UNAIDS policy position report entitled, 'Intensifying HIV Prevention', and released on Monday, has called for urgent prevention programmes to limit HIV transmission within, and beyond, high-risk groups such as intravenous drug users and sex workers. According to the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP), some 2,943 HIV/AIDS cases have been reported since the programme started in 1986, of which 321 were full-blown AIDS cases. The programme also records a 7:1 male to female ratio. However, estimates of HIV/AIDS cases in the country, according to UNAIDS, go as high as 70,000 to 80,000.

The UNAIDS report noted, a major epidemic has already been detected among injecting drug users in the southern port city of Karachi, where 23 percent of users were found to be HIV positive in 2004. At the same time, a survey of sex workers in the country's main trading city of Karachi showed that only 2 percent of female sex workers used condoms. One in five sex workers could not recognise a condom or did not know that condoms could prevent HIV/AIDS, the report maintained.

Pakistan remains in denial, reports IRNA:Pakistan disputes UN report on AIDS spread

Pakistani spices tingling Indian taste buds - Navhind Times

2005-11-27T20:06:00.000-08:00

Ready-mix spices from Pakistan seem to be up for grabs at the India International Trade Fair (IITF), considering the rush of visitors jostling for a wide variety of fare on sale. Spices of major Pakistani brands like National, Shan, Laziza, Mehran and Mersi are vying for space on the Indian kitchen shelf this time.

"The taste of the Pakistani masala is very good, besides giving a different flavour to the curries," said Ms Hema Gupta, a housewife, who despite being a vegetarian picked up many a ready-mix spices for meat dishes. The reason was the green label on the packet, denoting vegetarian ingredients, said Mr Nitin Goel of Ruchin Enterprises, which has recently been appointed the main stockists of Shan Products in the country.

Body art in vogue among Lahore youth - Webindia123

2005-11-27T20:01:00.000-08:00

Body art is fast becoming a fashion statement among the young in this most liberal city in Pakistan, and they are flaunting tattoos and body piercings despite rebuke and ridicule. Naveed Ahmed, a tattoo artist, said boys and girls in the age group of 14 to 28 years and even older clients came for body art. The favoured designs for tattoos were maps, dragons, reptiles, alphabets, comic book heroes and flowers. Ahmed, who has two body art parlours (X-Tra 1 and 2) here, said he had tattooed 900 people, but body piercing was more popular. He has pierced more than 8,000 bellies, ears, noses, nipples, eyebrows, lips, chins and private parts for customers, according to the Daily Times newspaper. On an average, Ahmed said he made four tattoos and 10 piercings every day and had more female clients than male. Belly button piercing was a favourite with the girls while boys preferred eyebrow rings.

While body art might be a hit with the fashion conscious youth, their parents are not too thrilled about their children's frivolities. According to a student, parents were not ready to accept the new "cultural variation" or "fashion plague," as his parents referred to it. He said his parents thought his tattoo looked like he had got burnt and his wounds had turned black. Hamza, a graphic design student, said going around with tattoos on the neck or elbows was not easy as people stared hard and often ridiculed him.

Justice System in Ruins in Pakistan Quake Area - Los Angeles Times

2005-11-27T19:59:00.000-08:00

Aamir Nazir knows it has never been easy to dispense justice in the hardscrabble Himalayan mountains of Kashmir. He regularly worked with an overcrowded docket and in dilapidated courtrooms. But at least Nazir had a courtroom to call his own. After last month's magnitude 7.6 earthquake that killed more than 87,000 people, he spent weeks banging his gavel in a crowded bus station parking lot. He recently moved into makeshift quarters, but fears they could crumble in the intermittent aftershocks.

"I worry every day I walk into this room," he said of the tiny office near the demolished court lockup. The Oct. 8 earthquake played havoc with all areas of life throughout Pakistan-controlled Kashmir. About four-fifths of public buildings collapsed in the isolated rural region, including an estimated 10,000 schools, according to government estimates. But one sector that hasn't received much attention is the judicial system. Hundreds of courtrooms were destroyed and at least 1,500 attorneys killed, as well as 100 judges and countless defendants.

Things to learn from India: Shahid Javed Burki - Dawn

2005-11-27T00:26:00.000-08:00

While I was in India last month I came across an American friend who had also travelled to Delhi to pursue some interest in development economics. This was his first visit to the country and he was initially very impressed with what he saw. He had also read Thomas Friedman’s book from which I quoted in the column last week. “India is indeed an economic superpower; one that will change the structure of the global economy”, he said to me, fully agreeing with Friedman’s thesis.

My friend was impressed with the hotel in which both of us were staying; impressed with the sights and sounds of Delhi; impressed with Gurgaon, the centre of Delhi’s high-tech economy; impressed with the way the Indian middle class was engaged in their country’s development.

He also liked what he saw of Indian art, Indian music, and the country’s film history. He asked me whether there was much in common between India and Pakistan; after all the two were once part of the same economic and political entity. When I said that the two countries had much in common and that what he had read and heard about Pakistan was not the Pakistani reality, he seemed very sceptical about my response. I am sure he attributed it to a misplaced sense of patriotism.

When I left Delhi and returned to Washington, my American friend and his wife went on a tour of the “golden triangle” — tourist sites in Delhi, Agra and Jaipur. They then saw a great more of the real India. Remembering the conversation we had he called me upon returning to the United States. He said that he had seen two Indias; one was well integrated into the global economy, the other was poor, extremely crowded, with poor infrastructure, poor housing, and an incredible number of street dwellers. The second India was not very different from Africa, a continent he knew well. He was now not very sure whether to see India as a success story or one still struggling very hard to succeed.

In India, youths party on - Newsday

2005-11-27T00:22:00.000-08:00

Where marriage has since ancient days been deemed a sacred duty, Yuvika Bader, a quick-tongued 20-year-old college student, rejects the very concept of matrimony. "If someone's going to live with someone, then I'd just do it," she said recently. "I don't need to get the marriage stamp on it."

Where not long ago few besides beggars and cows wandered after dark, the son of a leather exporter goes clubbing four nights a week. The long-haired 24-year-old, who requested anonymity, said he once downed a vial of LSD and became convinced he was the Hindu god Shiva. "I was over and done with," he said.

And where older generations view luxury spending as vulgar, Bhavdeep Mehta, 24, a retail manager, has splurged on three cars, a giant flat-screen TV and a $370 cell phone, his sixth upgrade in five years. "Phones go out of fashion very quickly," he said.

In France's poor areas, girls pay a high price - Chicago Tribune

2005-11-24T18:38:00.000-08:00

Fifteen-year-old Rawa risks verbal abuse--or worse--every time she leaves her house wearing jeans. Jenah was thrown out of her family home at 11, became a drug dealer at 13, and was raped by a relative a year later.

If young men in France's housing projects--scenes of recent arson and unrest--have it rough, girls often have it worse. Not only do they suffer from racism, unemployment and deprivation, they also endure daily harassment and even violence in their communities. "Women are double victims, of social and sexual discrimination as well as violence," said Fadela Amara, founder of Ni Putes, Ni Soumises (Neither a Whore nor Submissive), a group fighting to improve the lot of Muslim women and girls in impoverished French neighborhoods.

Some girls have taken to wearing Islamic head coverings as protection against violence. But then they face pressures from the French state, which has banned veils and other religious symbols from schools to uphold the country's secular principles--and to quell Islamic fundamentalism. Authorities argue that girls should be empowered to cast off veils that are sometimes forced on them by their parents.

English fans stumped by segregation in Pak stadiums - Webindia123

2005-11-24T18:25:00.000-08:00

English female cricket fans visiting Pakistan to watch the ongoing Test and ODI series between the two countries are surprised to see separate enclosures for men and women at the cricket stadiums in Pakistan. Claire, a cricket fan from London who is accompanying the Barmy Army, said that she was surprised to see separate seats for women. "It's really surprising to note here that women here are arranged to sit in a separate enclosure away from their husbands," The Nation quoted her as saying.

Meanwhile, the Barmy Army fans say that their friends back home have missed out a great opportunity to visit this part of the world. They exchange thumbs up whenever any score is made or wicket is down. Pakistan fans cheer them up and England fans do the same in a very cordial atmosphere. "We have never seen or heard such a noise in the crowd. In England, we sit in the stands and just enjoy the proceedings and sometimes sing and wave," said Richard, who is from Manchester.

Angelina Jolie to adopt a baby in Pakistan? - Headline News

2005-11-24T18:21:00.000-08:00

Angelina Jolie reportedly wants to adopt a child orphaned by the Pakistan earthquake. Friends of the raven-haired star - who is spending Thanksgiving visiting survivors of the tragedy with lover Brad Pitt - claim she's considering adopting a child there. A source reveals, "She may well consider bringing a child home."

The pillow-lipped beauty - who has two adopted children, Maddox and Zahara -has made no secret of her desire to have more babies.Last month, the actress hinted she is ready to add another child to her family. She told America's People magazine at a benefit for the Worldwide Orphans Foundation, "It's a very special thing. There's something about making a choice, waking up and traveling somewhere and finding your family."

Imran Khan made chancellor of Bradford University - Daily Times

2005-11-24T18:16:00.000-08:00

Former cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan is all set to begin a new innings when he is installed as chancellor of the University of Bradford in a ceremony on December 7. IANS reported that Khan would succeed Baroness Betty Lockwood at the post. He will be the university’s fifth chancellor since its foundation in 1966. The chancellor’s post has a figurehead role, but appointing Khan to the high profile post is significant given that Bradford has a large population of Pakistan origin. Khan’s first duties will be to confer degrees on Bradford graduates and to lay the foundation stone for the university’s new Institute of Cancer Therapeutics on December 6.

Born in 1952 in Lahore, Khan was educated at Aitchison College, Lahore, where he proved to be a fine cricketer and made his first class test debut for Lahore against Sargodha at the age of 16. He was selected to play for the Pakistan cricket team in 1970 and very soon made a permanent place for himself in the national side. He finished his high school education at the Royal Grammar School at Worcester in England where he excelled in cricket. He went on to study Economics and Politics at Keble College, Oxford in 1972, where former prime minister Benazir Bhutto was his classmate. He was elected captain of the Oxford’s cricket team in 1974 but gave up the captaincy in 1975.

Singapore Airlines To Restart Flights To Pakistan - Yahoo

2005-11-24T18:12:00.000-08:00

Singapore Airlines Ltd. (S55.SG) Thursday said it will restart flights to Pakistan in February, almost four years after it stopped the service on security concerns. The world's second-biggest airline by market capitalization said in a statement it will offer a three-times-weekly service to Karachi and Lahore beginning Feb. 1. It added that the service will support further growth in bilateral trade relations between Singapore and Pakistan by facilitating more commercial and tourism inflows into the country. Singapore Airlines discontinued flights to Pakistan in May 2002 on security concerns. Singapore is currently negotiating a free trade agreement with Pakistan.

ADB to fund Pakistan hydoelectric plant - Water Power

2005-11-24T18:07:00.000-08:00

In its first proposed assistance to a private sector power project in Pakistan, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a US$37.3M loan to help finance an 80MW hydro plant downstream of the Mangla dam. Located on the Jhelum river in Azad, Jammu & Kashmir, the Bong Escape project is expected to help bridge a pending electricity shortfall and encourage the further development of hydro resources in Pakistan.

Construction of the run-of-river project is to begin shortly, with commercial generation of electricity scheduled for the beginning of 2009. The project is being developed by Laraib Energy Limited, which is owned by a subsidiary of Malaysian company Ranhill Berhad. Together with the ADB loan and the sponsor equity, the project is expected to be financed with loan facilities from the Islamic Development Bank and Pakistan commercial banks.

Jolie and Pitt to spend thanksgiving in Pakistan - BBC

2005-11-24T04:27:00.000-08:00

Hollywood stars Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are to visit survivors of the Pakistan earthquake. Jolie, a goodwill ambassador for the UN refugee agency, said they will be travelling to northern Pakistan within "a matter of days". Pitt joined Jolie at the UNHCR headquarters in Geneva on Tuesday for private briefings. The pair, who starred together in Mr and Mrs Smith, have been romantically linked since Pitt split from his wife, actress Jennifer Aniston, in January.

Saudi-Pakistani consortium buys KESC - MENAFN

2005-11-22T06:02:00.000-08:00

A Saudi-Pakistani Consortium has purchased the giant state-owned Karachi Electricity Supply Corporation, speeding up the privatisation process.

The Consortium consisting of AlJomaih Group of Saudi Arabia and Hasan Associates-Premeir Mercantile of Pakistan, with Germany-based Siemens as technological partner, has purchased 73 per cent shares of Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC), for $ 340 million from the Government of Pakistan. "The Consortium has paid $100 million as the down payment to the government, State Privatisation Commission (PC) said this week. "The group will deposit the remaining amount before the end of November to take over the management control of the company," PC said.

Government of Pakistan, for now, will retain 26 per cent stake in KESC. One per cent of the company's shares are floated on the Karachi Stock Exchange.

GSM companies to invest $3B in Pakistan - PakTribune

2005-11-20T01:14:00.000-08:00

Ricardo Tavares, President GSM Association, said that the boost the telecommunication sector in Pakistan, mobile companies planned to invest US $ 3 billion in the next three years. "The six mobile operators are investing US $ 1.2 billion in Pakistan this year alone, excluding license payments, and doubling for the second year in a row the number of mobile subscribers to over 19 million by the end of 2005," he stated this while addressing the press conference here on Saturday at a local hotel.

He lauded the government’s policies to boost the telecom sector and said that the government has played in unleashing the growth of the telecom sector. He mentioned the commendable cases of lowering handset prices and taxation. He said that in Pakistan, the handsets was available at below US $ 30 as these handsets were 60 percent more in Syria. He said that this is so because Syria and many other countries tax handsets heavily while the tax rate to import a handset into Pakistan is Zero, he said.