In order to get the innocent incarceration of the CEO ended from FIA custoday, the friends of Faisal and Cogilent organized a protest rally in Islamabad in front of the Ministry of Information Technology.
The protest was to bring to light the injustice which continues to this day (10 days and counting) with no relief in sight. We tried to approach everyone and presented our case to the best of our abilities, but no one seems to be listening and helping out. It is now clearly established that there was no illegal activity and that the raid itself was illegal. And the longer an innocent person remains behind bars, the bigger the human rights violation case it becomes in Pakistan.
The protest rally was supported by PASHA (Pak Software Houses Assoc), ISPAK (Internet Service Provider Assoc. of Pakistan), ACCO (Association of Call Centers), and many other networks including Pakistan ICT Policy Monitor Network. As a result over 150 people showed up to protest peacefully at the Ministry's office in Islamabad. The event was well covered by the media. GEO, ARY, AAJ, ATV and other channels. The News, The Jang and other newspapers were also present to highlight the issue. However, PTV, the government mouthpeace, was reluctant to cover the event.
We do hope that this ordeal will end soon and PTA would realize their error and would take appropriate steps within their own organization.
In response to the protest, PTA decided to go on a smear campaign and published various press releases attacking the company and its activities. What alarmed and surprised everyone was that all the allegations made by PTA in the press release were baseless and devoid of facts. If they really had something, then some solid evidence should have been brought forward, but to this day, PTA/FIA have not produced anything. And such smear attacks are not good for the Industry. It shows the vendetta mentality within the government and will only create further paranoia within the nascent industry of government's pigheadedness.
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