Senator Mushahid Proposed to Devise Future Strategy for Internet Governance

Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed on Monday laid emphasis on the need for a task force including representatives of government, academia, industry and civil society to devise future strategy for proper internet governance in the country.

While addressing as chief guest at the launching ceremony of Pakistan School on Internet Governance (PkSIG) along with inauguration of a four-day workshop at Higher Education Commission (HEC) Secretariat, he talked about the importance of Internet Governance in Pakistan. HEC Chairman Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority Chairman Dr. Ismail Shah, HEC Executive Director Dr. Raza Bhatti, and HEC DG (IT) Anwar Amjad were also there on the occasion.

The event is being arranged by HEC and National Textile University in collaboration with Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), Asia-Pacific Network Internet Centre (APNIC), and Internet Society (ISOC).

The four-day workshop, will cover political, legal, economic, socio-cultural, technological and other dimensions of the Internet Governance related to Pakistani national requirements. It will have practical based workshops, round tables, and case presentations.

Senator Mushahid Proposed to Devise Future Strategy for Internet Governance

Senator Mushahid Hussain in his speech appraised the initiative of HEC and its partners for introducing a School on Internet Governance in Pakistan. He said that all stakeholders including government, private sector, civil society, and academia will have to play a an active part for policy making related to Internet governance and its effective execution. He also said that Internet is a step towards change, he also added that initiative for internet governance in Pakistan is really important. He also explained the problems faced by Pakistan in terms of Internet accessibility and productivity. He said China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project should also be a part of Internet governance, as Internet can play an important part in accomplishing the CPEC objectives.

Dr. Ismail Shah said that Pakistan has seen a tremendous growth in terms of people’s accessibility to Internet. The number of people having access to Internet has increased from 3.7 million in 2014 to 19.2 million at present.

In his inaugural remarks, HEC Chairman Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed expected that the four-day event will define duties of academia and all other stakeholders about the Internet governance. He explained that PkSIG will help people from Pakistan to get a better understanding of the global and regional Internet Governance issues, settings, and processes while getting access to comprehensive and structured knowledge on various aspects of Internet Governance.

The workshop speakers will re-count the history of Internet since 1950s and how it progressed over the years. The session will include Internet users statistics, infrastructure, Internet QoS, ISPs in the country, mobile operators, undersea cables, the ccTLD, the IDN ccTLD, root-server instances, IXPs, stakeholder groups, IPv4 and IPv6, international involvement, mobile apps, 3G/4G, smart-phones, research and educational networks.

The ICANN and ISOC representatives said that the workshop participants will elaborate the necessity of developing proper policies for today’s Internet usage at the national level. It will also emphasize on the need for cyber-legislation’s at the national and regional level.