Finally, It is over!

This Saturday morning, Faisal’s bail application was rejected again by the Additional District and Session Judge, Ch. Abdul Qayum. This was the third time that the Session Judge has rejected the bail in less than a week. What was remarkable is that the case was withdrawn almost a week ago, but the Judge continues to see a reason not to let Faisal go.

Meanwhile, the process for cancellation of his case (FIR and discharge request) was moved to the court of Sr. Civil Judge, Mr. Abid Rizwan Abid today. The considerate judge heard the case, marked to Session Judge who sent it back to Additional Session Judge and finally then to Sr. Civil Judge at around 2:30 p.m. The Sr. Civil Judge then heard the arguments of FIA for cancellation of the FIR/Case and passed the orders for cancellation of the case and immediate discharge of Faisal from jail. The orders [robkar] is now taken to the jail. Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB), Managing Director, Yusuf Husain, personally and others were at the gates of Adiala Jail to take Faisal out.

Behind the scenes, there were a lot of efforts made by some committed persons who made this thing happen.

Firstly it was Yusuf Husain, MD PSEB who has been at forefronts running around in the courts and putting maximum efforts. I have previously said that he’s unlike any government servant. Today, he made hectic efforts in the court rooms for cancellation of Faisal’s case. I’ve never seen a person holding a public office so committed, so concerned and working so pro actively for the common cause of the industry. Our hats off to you, Yusuf.

Then comes the Secretary Ministry of IT, Mr. Farrakh Qayyum. Yusuf says that he was on phone all day with the Secretary and whenever he called the Secretary to call someone in Ministry of Law & Justice or Ministry of Interior, he immediately acted and short cut the process of clearance of case from three courts within few hours which would normally have taken weeks. Mr. Qayyum continued pursuing the case despite being out of the country and persuading the decision makers’ so that justice could be served quickly. When Mr. Qayyum was thanked for his support, he said that he felt the pain of Faisal and his family very close to his heart. I must say that today’s release of Faisal wouldn’t have been possible without Mr. Qayyum’s wholehearted and sincere efforts. The industry is greatly indebted to you, Mr. Farrakh Qayum.

Mr. Ishaq Khan Khakwani, Minister of State for IT, was also very concerned and didn’t hesitate at all to pick up his phone and call people whenever he was requested.

Oan Rana of PSEB used his personal family contacts to move the case through as Talib Baloch fully extended his helping hands.

And finally, Mr. Wahaj us Siraj, CEO, Micronet, lead the struggle from the front. He marshaled all the resources and support to bring justice. Even against the extreme threat and pig pigheadedness of PTA and FIA, he did not lose hope till justice was served today.

All others who spent time, money and efforts for this cause deserve sincere thanks and applause.

And above all, all praises and thanks to Almighty Allah as this wouldn’t have been at all possible without HIS special blessings and help.

Another Court Hearing

This Saturday (Dec 23) is the date of hearing for Faisal in the court of Additional District & Session Judge. There’re no points in the case any more. The Complainant (PTA) and Prosecution (FIA) both have withdrawn the case. The lawyer is one of the top criminal lawyers in the country. But it all depends on the perception of Judge, that’s what happened on the last hearing when bail application of Faisal was turned down.

Let’s hope and pray that this ordeal is closed by tomorrow inshallah.

Minister for IT has assured the industry that they would take action on the demands of industry within 7 days. Today’s 6th day and nothing moved this far. We’ve sent him a reminder yesterday.

No Bail, No Justice

Faisal’s case for his discharge from jail was presented to court today. The judge after listening to the case, ordered the following:

“Present Investigation Officer with record. The accused has been sent to judicial lock. At this stage, application for discharge of the accused can not be allowed. So the prosecution may adopt the given procedure under the law. The application is therefore turned down with the above referred observation”.

So FIA would move proceeding for case cancellation with the court which many take minimum 10-15 days.

Now the bail application of Faisal would be moved to High Court for his early release so that he can at least come out of jail before Eid ul Azha.

Unfortunately, it is very easy to get in, but very difficult to get out from the prison no matter whether you’re innocent and even the case is withdrawn. Judges are not concerned whether someone is spending worst days of his life in a cell for no crime and what’s happening to his family and relatives. They’re more interested in technicalities of the case.

Can there be more ironic a story out there. Poor Faisal, he has been cleared of all charges, but the Judge does not believe that is enough for him to acquit.

Peaceful Protest Rally

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.

Injustice at the hands of PTA/FIA - Part 1

The following was received recently by Wheels of Justice. We are publishing it verbatim.
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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, in Islamabad, Pakistan, which runs a very successful job portal in the country. 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, around noon, Pakistan Time, FIA (Federal Investigation Authority) and PTA (Pak Telecom Authority.. http://www.pta.gov.pk) walked into our offices in the software technology park and 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, 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 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 and routers means, we cannot deliver on those projects and locking up our CEO without any notices, warnings is also not legally a good step.

So far, we have called up PASHA (Pakistan Software Houses Association), PSEB (Pakistan Software Export Board), ISPAK (Internet Service Providers Assocation of Pakistan) to assist and help us in this regard. But PTA/FIA have not budged from their unlawful acts....

On one side, the government is promising so many incentives to help the nascent software Industry in the country. On the other, it is using these horrendous acts of saboteur that it makes it impossible for us to work efficiently.

If there is an issue then they should send us a notice or talk to us first and discuss the matter. To barge into our offices, locking up our staff and siezing our hardware/software will not help in any way get them more investment in the country. The most ironic part of the incident was that our office is located in the Software technolgy park, less than 100 feet from Pakistan Software Export Board and two floors below Ministry of IT and Telecom. What a stupid thing for PTA/FIA to do.