PTA in idiot mode, again
This is an email from Atif Mumtaz.

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Asalam Alekum,

I wanted to share a recent harrowing experience that my company is going through in Pakistan. First a bit of a background.

I co-founded an internet Startup company, called Cogilent Solutions ( www.cogilent.com), in Islamabad, which runs a very successful job portal in the country called ( BrightSpyre ). Among our innovations, we were one of the first companies in the world to launch an integrated Voice Resume system based on VoIP technologies. And our solution is being used by companies like TRG and others to hire quality talent for their call centers in Pakistan.

On Tuesday Dec 4, Pakistan time, around noon, FIA (Federal Investigation Authority) and PTA (Pak Telecom Authority) walked into our offices, seized all our servers, mobiles and everything on the pretext that we are using it for illegal VoIP termination. They also locked up our current CEO, Faisal Chohan behind bars. Even when we explained to them that we are not doing call terminations, and only develop creative solutions for call centers to use, they would not listen.

Now, we are a small internet startup company based out of Software Technology Park, Islamabad. Nor do we have any connections with any major government or military establishments. We have no interest in call termination or anything of that sort. We are focused on BrightSpyre and bringing software revenue into the country through US based projects. Taking away all our servers means, we cannot deliver on those projects and locking up our CEO without any notices and warnings is also not a good step.

We request PASHA to officially look into the matter and help us resolve this crisis. Especially, the immediate release of our CEO, Faisal Chohan.

Regards,
Atif Mumtaz


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Reuters Digital Vision Fellow
Stanford University
Tele-Healthcare Initiative
www.tele-healthcare.org
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Labels: gorement, hero, idiots, Pakistan

- posted @ Wednesday, December 13, 2006