Musharraf, Aziz turned Bill Gates away

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
1

This is very sad… God knows when the change will come to Pakistan..

Friday, November 07, 2008
Rulers, Baboos seek share in foreign investment: Microsoft official

News Desk

RAWALPINDI: The real hurdle in the way of the Information Technology (IT) sector�s development are bureaucrats and politicians, as whenever foreigners reach here for investment, bureaucrats and politicians holding government offices first demand their share from them.

This was the reason that meetings of Bill Gates with former president Pervez Musharraf and former prime minister Shaukat Aziz remained unsuccessful, said speakers at a daylong workshop under the aegis of Microsoft in Islamabad.

In the workshop, the journalists were informed about the software piracy. Microsoft Citizenship Manager Afzal Mirza, Genuine Software Manager Salman Siddiqui, Oxford University Press Managing Director Amina Syed and Jibran from the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) presented papers on the subject matter and answered to the questions of participants.

Afzal Mirza said that international firms want to make huge investments in the IT sector in Pakistan but when they discuss their development plans with bureaucrats and office holders, first of all they are asked as to how much share of funds would be offered to them. He said sometimes 90 per cent of total funding is demanded and thus foreign investors run away whereas there is no such trend in India.

The Microsoft official recalled that Microsoft Chief Bill Gates had held meetings with president Musharraf and former prime minister Shaukat Aziz in China but no progress could be made because Pakistani officials talked keeping in view their personal gains.

Afzal Mirza said that a project to set up 4,000 computer labs in the educational institutions of Punjab was being implemented while a project for training teachers had been completed. He said the Microsoft had offered to provide software in the government schools at extremely cheap rates but the offer was not accepted.

Salman Siddiqi told the participants that piracy was a global problem and was causing $40 billion loss annually. He said that pirated software are being widely used in Pakistan and the government and private organisations are in the forefront in this regard. He said that if use of pirated software is reduced by 10 per cent, it could add $163 million to the gross domestic produce and $23 million could be added to the national exchequer. Besides foreign firms could make huge investments.The Microsoft genuine software manager said that according to a survey of the Business Software Alliance, Pakistan�s IT sector was at 62nd position in global ranking.

Amina Syed said publications of the Oxford University Press are being published illegally and the National Book Foundation is also among such publishers while private sector publishing houses are doing so at a large scale. Counterfeiting is also rampant in pharmaceutical sector, she added.

She said that minimal punishment is awarded by courts while pirates are not being punished because of lacunae in the law. The FIA official said that the compact disk is not the only medium of software piracy, but pirated software are also available through the Internet.

2

Re: Musharraf, Aziz turned Bill Gates away

Give Pakistan royalties on Traditional Knowledge for the past 50 years then start this bull**** about intellectual property. Patent's should be revised to reflect the importance of Traditional Knowledge and true ownership of patents and royalties.

In other words Screw Microsoft.

3

I just read that from one other media and its soo disgusting!!! Thanks God this report is not presented by Ansar Abbasi!!!

That makes every pakistani speechless!

4

Re: Musharraf, Aziz turned Bill Gates away

this story is laughable. Yes, there is some corruption, but one who make up stories like this, should be institutionalized.

Timepass / Uncle Ehsan's Baithak - August 2012
Timepass / Uncle Ehsan's Baithak - August 2012
5

Thats very interesting! If someone with the name "Ansar Abbasi" reveals something about Musharraf some people consider him liar and call him names. If someone else says similar, you consider it laughable.

Atleast the person who said so doesnt appear to be a political person, nor he looked to be on the parole of any other politician. I mentioned these cuz these are the two main "accusations" given by people who are not ready to believe on someone.

Anyways, if its true what he said, its very sad!

Degree/Certificates of Pakistan
6

Re: Musharraf, Aziz turned Bill Gates away

was this news published in any reliable national or international newspaper ? I did not see any source in the news article .

Moms 2012- 2013
7

NOTE: Shafiq please provide a link to the news article you posted, thanks.

8

Re: Musharraf, Aziz turned Bill Gates away

I don't know about this particular news item but if it's true than it's the second incident of its nature with Microsoft

Back in 1999, I was told first-hand by an intern working at Microsoft that the company was interested in opening its Middle East Call Center Support facility in Lahore, but after two years of dealing with red tape and corruption, they opted to open it in Hyderabad, India where the lead-time up to the establishment of the facility was less than a year.

The news was confirmed in various media around 1999 / 2000... I'll try to see if I can find a link.

It's really pathetic that we corruption is still one of the biggest hurdles to overcome for FDI and international business ventures in Pakistan. This is anarea where India has far excelled past us... they seldom let selfishness come in way of education and development.

9

Re: Musharraf, Aziz turned Bill Gates away

Heres the link
Musharraf, Aziz turned Bill Gates away

10

Re: Musharraf, Aziz turned Bill Gates away

and here you go… a GS thread from 2000 talking about what happened with MS back then. Boy… does history repeat itself… and in Pakistan’s case - we never learn from our mistakes:

http://www.paklinks.com/gs/computer-information-technology/51017-microsoft-abandons-lahore-opts-india.html

11

Re: Musharraf, Aziz turned Bill Gates away

Microsoft disowned the interview and has said that it will investigate why it was said in the first place on MS’s behalf and will punish anyone found involved.

12

Brother, it is nice that Microsoft not only denied the news, but they are going to take action. Problem is that even though news was lie, some unaware ignorant Pakistanis must have bought it as true. Denial of Microsoft could not washout harm of propagandas easily, just like denial of Lt Gen Shahid Aziz does not mean that propaganda of Liar Ansar Abbasi completely failed, as all could not have read Gen Aziz denial.

It is really sad that political thugs throw bones to low life thugs in media and they start barking lies. Today, Pakistani media has lost all credibility for many, especially when they lie against previous government, as people have seen propaganda full of lies coming out of them throughout last few years. People like Ansar Abbasi, Rauf Klasra, Kashif Abbasi, Shahid Masood, Hamid Mir, Mazhar Abbas, Talat Hussain, Mushtaq Minhas, Nusrat Jawaid, and many others may have earned some money working for thug politicians, but lost all credibility for many.

If these media thugs bring truth to the people than certainly they would have been doing service, as one could work to sort things out and get rid of corrupts from Pakistan. Problem is that these thugs themselves are corrupt and think that by lying they do not lose their credibility but could earn some money from thug politicians. But in reality their lies and propaganda only harm the country and the image of the country, as world knows that they are lying. Only ignorant and completely retards take their propaganda seriously, because rational logic along with facts on ground deny their propagandas full of lies. .

It is really pathetic what thugs of News wrote in above News article, that Musharraf and Shaukat Aziz was asking for personal gains. If they would have thought of personal gain than Shaukat Aziz would never have left top city bank job with seven figures salary in dollars for ****ty government job in Pakistan. On the other hand, if they were doing corruption than Pakistan would not have accumulated $16.5 billion reserve from less than $400 million in 1999, and tax collection reaching Rs 1100 billion from Rs 300 billion in 1999. That is in spite of dollar debt not increasing a single penny (stayed $40 billion in 2007, what it was in 1999) and rupee debt increasing less than inflation (at around 5 percent a year). Before Musharraf period, Pakistan had negligible investment in budget for development, but during Musharraf period, development investment increased to over Rs 700 billion (from almost zero development investment during 1998-99). Dollar debt increased at the rate of around 11 percent a year and rupee debt increased at the rate of around 16 percent a year, throughout from 1988 to 1999. If Pakistani officials were doing corruption and Pakistan was not encouraging foreign investment than just imagine, how it was possible that in 2006-07, last full year of Shaukat Aziz in power, Pakistan received over $8 billion in foreign investment. Obviously, no one can easily detect corruption unless one is inside, but even an idiot can see state of economy and state of finances to realise if corruption was going on or not. Just imagine that Nawaz government gave mobile telephone license free to a foreign country without even auction, but last govenment sold same liscense (plus several more mobile phone liscence) at around $300 million each. So, how that was possible?

Fact is that, microsoft that left Pakistan for India came to Pakistan during Musharraf time and have done quite a bit of investment in Pakistan. Microsoft found the helpful attitude of the government and business environment in Pakistan so conducise that they appreciated it and decided to expand in Pakistan. Here is news about microsoft comments on Pakistani business environment during previous government:

Bink.nu | Microsoft to open 20 training centers in Pakistan - Bink.nu

Microsoft to open 20 training centers in Pakistan
Posted by Steven Bink December 22, 2004 11:15 AM with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Training & Certification

Islamabad, DEC 22, SPA - Computer giant Microsoft will set up 20 training centers in Pakistan, says the Microsoft Middle East Region Chairman Emre Berkin.

He met Pakistan Senate (Upper House of Parliament) Chairman Mohammadmian Soomro and lauded Pakistan government’s investment-friendly policies, according to an official statement.

Berkin, currently visiting Pakistan at the head of a five-member delegation, said these policies had created conducive atmosphere for foreign investors.
He briefed the Senate chairman on his organization’s future plans for investment in Pakistan.

Berkin said the Microsoft Corporation was in contact with various Pakistan government departments to promote information technology in Pakistan.
Soomro appreciated the Microsoft Corporation for taking keen interest for investment in Pakistan’s IT sector and said the setting up of the training centers would motivate people to actively participate in strengthening the national economy.

He assured Berkin that the government would extend full cooperation to the Microsoft for the implementation of its investment plans.

Soomro said the telecommunication sector in Pakistan, especially in the IT sector, had grown at a rapid pace and undergone an impressive transformation during the last five years

Dream interpretations
13

Microsoft investment in Pakistan education during Musharraf period:
http://www.microsoft.com/middleeast/pakistan/education/default.aspx

Islamabad … 3rd May 2005:
Microsoft Middle East - Press Centre - 2005

A part of the Partners in Learning Program, Junior Developers Curriculum, aims to introduce software engineering to school students so as to motivate them at an early age on how to become software engineers. As a part of ICT efforts under Partners in Learning program, Federal Government College for Women (K12) G10-4 launched the Junior Developers Curriculum which was the first experiment of its kind in Pakistan and second in Partners in Learning signatories of about 100 countries.

Subsequently, the college has successfully introduced JD curriculum and has trained more than 60 girl students. To acknowledge the efforts of students and teachers of this program, Microsoft Corporation organized a Junior Developers Conference in Islamabad on the 3rd of May that was inaugurated by the Federal Secretary of Education. More than 200 students, teachers, and principals participated in the conference. They did presentations on different aspects of Junior Developers curriculum.

The Federal Education Secretary, Sajid Hassan also lauded their efforts and urged upon the other institutions of the country to follow suit. He distributed the Innovative Teachers Award instituted by Microsoft to recognize innovations in teaching. The youngest Microsoft Certified Professional, a ten-year-old student, Arfa Karim won the special award for Brilliance as she completed the curriculum in less than three hours. Brig. Maqsud-ul-Hassan, Director General, Federal Directorate of Education in his speech at the occasion, showed his determination to extend this experience to all schools including those in the rural areas of Federal Capital and to make all teachers ICT literate. He emphasized the need for integration of ICT in the existing school syllabi and assured to extend all cooperation in this endeavor.

Dr. Arshad Siddiqui, Professor from IBA, Karachi presented the localized version of Junior Developers Curriculum developed in collaboration with Vaqar Khamisani and Dr. Habib Khan for Pakistani schools. The participants displayed an overwhelming enthusiasm in acquiring and adopting the Junior Developers Curriculum in their Institution.

14

Obviously news below from Pakistan Times would blow the air out of balloon of above news: Dated 25th January 2004, it tells of Musharraf inviting Microsoft to Pakistan and Microsoft responded. Now, how come it is possible that news come in Nov 2008 that Microsoft contacted Musharraf as they wanted to invest in Pakistan but were snubbed down by Musharraf when news clearly says that it was not Microsoft who contacted Pakistan but Musharraf invited Bill Gate (and Microsoft) to Pakistan in January 2004, plus there is enough evidence to show that Microsoft already invested and was continuously investing in Pakistan due to Musharraf request during Musharraf rule. Plus, Microsoft Middle East Region Chairman, Emre Berkin appreciated investment friendly environment in Pakistan.

Pakistan Times | Top Stories: President invites Microsoft Chief Bill Gates to invest in Pakistan

President invites Microsoft Chief Bill Gates to invest in Pakistan
Pakistan Times Foreign Desk

DAVOS (Switzerland): President General Pervez Musharraf on Saturday invited Microsoft to invest in Pakistan and to use it as a hub of IT activity in the region.

President Musharraf in a meeting with Chairman of Microsoft Bill Gates invited him to take benefit of the conducive investment climate in the country and invest in Pakistan.

He said Pakistan was fast becoming one of the hubs of IT and provided highly qualified professional manpower. He informed him of the initiatives taken by the government in the IT sector and the progress on e-commerce and e-governance.

Bill Gates Reax with Delight

Bill Gates said Microsoft will help Pakistan achieve its objectives in IT.
He said the Gates Foundation, working under the United Nations in the health sector, can further expand its scope and asked for proposals from the government to identify the sectors where it could concentrate.
Meets Novaratis CE

The President also has a meeting with the Chief Executive of Novratis Daniel Varsela. The President also asked him to take benefit of Pakistan’s location and use it as a hub for expanding its market into the Central Asian Republics.

He invited Daniel to invest in Pakistan and said the country provided rich investment potential.

**Meeting with Prince Karim **

The President also have had a meeting with Prince Karim Aga Khan here on Saturday. They discussed matters of mutual interest and took into account the projects being run by the Aga Khan Foundation in different sectors in Pakistan.

The President appreciated the contributions of Prince Karim in education, tourism, health and social welfare.

http://pakistantimes.net/2004/01/25/guest1_files/dot.gif

15

You mean to say that Lahore's loss was Hyderabad's gain. It sometimes helps to take a reality check. Hyderabad is competing to be the software capital of the world. It is in MS's interests to open a center in India. The competition was between Bangalore and Hyderabad and not between Hyderabad and Lahore. It also helps to look at sources. You heard that from an intern. Unless the intern was doing a Lewinsky, how would she know...

16

Re: Musharraf, Aziz turned Bill Gates away

Whatever happened to Mustafa Subdon Kamaal (street thug) moving Dell to Pakistan? Post tu buhat kartey they yeh MQM walley plans, ab plans shuru kab hon gey :hehe: