Zong launches public awareness campaign for customer protection

 

ISLAMABAD, MAY 20: Taking the lead in protecting the Pakistani telecom users, Pakistan’s cellular and digital services frontrunner, Zong 4G, has launched a nationwide public awareness campaign against thefts and frauds, which are becoming very common these days. 

Through the digital campaign, millions of Pakistanis are being educated on the growing occurrences of various forms of thefts and frauds that include fake prizes from game shows, fake calls from pretending bank agents, SMS with spam hyperlinks, etc. These scams usually target vulnerable users and are aimed at acquiring confidential information like CNIC numbers, credit/debit card details, bank account details, etc.

Here are some details of the scams that Zong wants the Pakistani telecom users to be wary of:

Fake Prizes:

Users get a fake call or message telling them that they have won some grand prize at one of the country’s leading game shows. They’re then tricked into sharing confidential information like CNIC numbers or card/account details.

Fake Calls:

Telecom users get a fake call from a pretend bank/insurance agent asking them for their confidential information like CNIC number, card or account details.

Fake SMSs:

Sometimes users also get an SMS from an unknown number with some attractive message prompting them to click some spam link through which their sensitive information is stolen. 

“We’re a customer-centric company and whatever we do at our organization is for the benefit and welfare of our customers,” shared Zong’s official spokesperson.

“Staying protected in today’s increasingly digital world is not easy and the users who are not cautious fall prey to such scammers. But we are here to educate the Pakistani telecom users on how to get the best of the digital world while staying protected,” the spokesperson added. 

Being a customer-focused organization, Zong 4G has adopted a subscriber-level SIM blocking and CNIC blacklisting service to control fraudulent users. Customers continue to be at the heart of everything Zong does and the awareness campaign is a testament to that commitment. 

--------------------------------------

Huawei Kicks off IP Summit 2022 to Empower Businesses

Islamabad, MAY 18: The Huawei Pakistan IP Summit2022 took place in Islamabad where ICT experts gathered to discuss the ‘Role of IP in the Digitalization of Pakistan’ and share the latest network technology trends and discover how enterprises can best adapt to the intelligent era based on next-generation networks, algorithms, and AI capabilities. 

The event was attended byMr. Farhan Haider (CTO Wateen), Mr. Waqar Fazal (Head of IP Network Planning & Optimization PTCL), Mr. Faizan Mahmood (Group CIO Packages Limited), Mr. Jahanzeb Arshad (Vice President Operations Nayatel), Mr. Hamid Mohiuddin (CTO Silicon ST), Mr. Ghayas Anwar, Director FIA, Mr. Liu Gui (Solution VPHuawei Middle East Region), Mr. Shahzad Rasheed, CEO Huawei Cloud, Mr. Muhammad Badar Farooq (Senior Solution Architect Huawei) and other industry leaders and representatives from Huawei.

During the Summit, the renowned industry leaders mentioned above gave keynote speeches, gave demos and also conducted sessions on topics like ‘Autonomous driving networks in the AI era’, ‘Future Trends in IP Networking’, ‘Cloud-Network Express Inspiring B2B New Growth’ and Huawei's Contribution to the Pakistan IP Industry which led to the company becoming the number one IP leader in Pakistan. 

Mr. Liu Gui praised the industry leaders and partners during his keynote speech, “I would like to thank our customers and partners, with your trust, Huawei has won more than 1100 new customers globally in 2022. In Pakistan, customers, the government, finance and education ministry have all started the journey of digital transformation together with Huawei. This would have not been possible without the important infrastructure that is high quality IP network, which Huawei has committed to be on the forefront of globally and in Pakistan.”

Mr. Shahzad Rasheed, talking about Huawei’s contribution and overcome of struggles to become the NO . 1 IP Company in Pakistanhe stated, “The core value of this company is openness and customer centricity, openness to the extent that moving forward, this IP Summit will be a vendor neutral event, where we will discuss the problems, challenges, solutions and the growth of IP. You the customers, are the bosses and we as a company adapt ourselves around you with our strong ecosystem and competitive landscape.”

While addressing in this Summit, Director FIA, Mr. Ghayas Anwar, gave a brief introduction about FIA as an organization and discussed the network pain points they were previously facing, and why FIA needed to upgrade its network, “While other OEMs were trying to pitch us new solutions, Huawei’s dedicated team actually heard our real concerns and addressed our network pain points. FIA has found Huawei’s team to be a true technical advisor rather than just an equipment selling company, additionally the local team was always very cooperative with their customer-centric approach.”

Mr. Jahanzeb Arshad who has unique expertise at operational management of network solutions talked about Going Digital Faster with Wi-Fi 6, “Wi-Fi is everywhere, but there are still more than 33% people who are still dissatisfied with their Wi-Fi speed. The previous generations of Wi-Fi were not able to solve this challenge. However, Wi-Fi 6, the latest standard which matured at the end of 2020 was found capable by companies like Huawei as the way forward which is why we have lots of these devices available in the market. We, as a telecom operator started providing Wi-Fi AP’s since last year, providing Huawei Access Devices to our customers.”

The next session by Mr. Farhan Haider, a renowned expert who aced complex network handlingand was instrumental in determining the course for industry growth as the CTO at Wateen,addressed Cloud-Network Express Inspiring B2B New Growth. He stated on the occasion, “I’d like to thank Huawei for arranging this Summit where all of the country’s experts have gathered to discuss robust solutions and the development of IP.” He also stated, “With the rise virtual reality, the processing speeds of the cloud VR can’t meet the needs of the user. With the digital transformation of the industry, more and more enterprises place services on the cloud.”

Mr. Faizan Mahmood during his presentation about the role of IP in the digitalization of Pakistan stated, “Companies like Huawei, started the concept of the public cloud in Pakistan, which subsequently also brought in private cloud, which changed the ecosystem, we moved from a PC Era to a Cloud Era, this change was also accelerated because of Covid-19. The conversation has moved from talking about virtualizing our servers to talking about virtualizing our networks as well. Connectivity can now happen from anywhere.” 

Mr. Hamid Mohiuddin, a seasoned ICT mentor and an integral part of the advancement of technology in the industry was called to talk about the future trends in the IP Industry, “AI is going to impact every corner of the society, not just one or two industry, machine learning and deep learning are both part of artificial intelligence. In the future, Internet of Things will grow as 5G grows. Cloud Computing has gotten attraction in both first world countries as well as in Pakistan, and I can see it growing further, especially with companies like Huawei at the Helm of this development.”

Mr. Badar Farooq, Senior Solution Architect discussed Autonomous Driving Network (ADN) and how ADN can resolves the TCO structure problems of telecom networks with system-level innovations. ADN utilizes network automation, AI, and digital twin technologies to simplify networks and operation， helping operators improve network quality, as well as increase efficiency and Agile Business.

Mr. Waqar Fazal, An IP Guru who has scaled the heights of technological breakthroughs throughout his career. Mr. Waqar holds multiple industry certifications on diverse technologies in the field of IP. He discussed the very exiting topic, “Segment Routing IPv6” (SRv6) which is a next-generation IP bearer protocol that combines Segment Routing (SR) and IPv6. Utilizing existing IPv6 forwarding technology, SRv6 implements network programming through flexible IPv6 extension headers.

Towards the end of the sessions, Mr. Liu and Mr. Shahzad presented tokens of our appreciation the esteemed speakers.

---------------------------------

Imran thanks SC for ‘safeguarding moral standards’ of nation with Article 63-A verdict

 

KOHAT, MAY 17: PTI chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan on Tuesday expressed gratitude to the Supreme Court for saving the nation from further “deterioration of its moral standards”, which he said were compromised by his political rivals in a bid to topple his government under a US-orchestrated conspiracy.

The statement from the ex-premier came hours after the top court announced its decision on a presidential reference seeking interpretation of Article 63-A of the Constitution which is related to the status of defecting lawmakers, saying the votes of defecting legislators will not be counted.

The verdict by the larger bench of the apex court was a 3-2 split decision, with a majority of the judges not allowing lawmakers to vote against party line in four instances outlined under Article 63-A. The verdict went on to say that defections were “one of the most pernicious ways” in which political parties could be destabilised, noting that they could also delegitimise parliamentary democracy.

“Thank God, the Supreme Court rejected the votes of lawmakers who were committing betrayal with their people, the country, and the Constitution,” Imran told his audience in a public meeting in Attock today.

While hailing the decision, Imran also urged the court to seek the record of corruption cases of the Sharif family and conduct day-to-day hearings on the cases.

He said the incumbent government had deliberately “destroyed” institutions such as the Federal Investigation Agency in order to render them ineffective in probing corruption cases.

Imran also appealed to the Supreme Court to order an inquiry into the recent death of FIA officer Dr Mohammad Rizwan, who died of an alleged cardiac arrest. In his speeches over the past week, Imran had raised suspicions of foul play regarding the nature of Dr Rizwan’s death.

The PTI chief’s appreciation of the top court stands in contrast to his public criticism of the judiciary over the past few weeks in his political power shows where he had asked why the courts opened their doors at midnight prior to his ouster.

‘Only demand is immediate elections’

The ex-premier lamented that Shehbaz and his son would have been convicted a year ago, but added it could not happen due to the weak justice system in the country.

“We just want one thing and that is immediate elections. We do not accept this America-backed government,” he told the crowd.

Imran said he was “carefully planning” the date of his upcoming Islamabad march and would unveil it in days to come.

He also sought a promise from rally attendants that in future elections they would not vote for leaders whose properties and assets were stashed abroad.

The PTI chief also “congratulated” the Khyber Pakhtonkhwa for having just one “turncoat” in the entire province. He said the PTI will never forgive those who defected to other parties “for the sake of money”.

Lashing out at the current government, Imran reiterated that he had signed an agreement with Russia to procure oil and wheat at 30 per cent discount. However, he alleged that “the current government revoked all those agreements right after coming to power.”

‘No provision to be neutral’

He said there were two kinds of people in the country: “one, who are trying to fix the problems faced by the country, and the others others who have been looting the country for 30 years”.

“Allah has asked us to choose between the two and he has not allowed us to be neutral here.”

He predicted the government will now “hastily approach” the United States for help and seek money on the pretext that Imran will come to power if the amount was not provided.

The former PM further said that Asif Ali Zardari was “enjoying” the current political situation whereas Shehbaz was “struggling” as the PPP had control of Sindh alongside a share in the federal government.

----------------------------------------------------

Courtesy Dawn News

-----------------------

Imran reiterates threat to his life, says has recorded video naming all conspirators

 

Sialkot, MAY 13: PTI Chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan said on Saturday his life was in danger and that he has recorded a video in which he has taken the names of all those who “conspired against me” since last summer.

Imran, who claims that he was ousted from the top office by made these remarks in his party’s political power show in Sialkot. “There is a conspiracy hatched against me in closed rooms in and outside the country, and they want that Imran Khan’s life [is lost],” he said.

“I knew of this conspiracy … so I have recorded a video and kept it in a secure place. If something happens to me then this video will be [made public] in front of nation. In it, whoever has conspired against me, whoever is complicit since last summer, I’ve named everyone.

“They think ‘Imran Khan can be an obstacle in our path and needs to be removed.’ And that’s why I’ve recorded this video because I think this is jihad and not politics. If something happens to me then I want all my Pakistanis to know who was complicit in this conspiracy.

“I’ve named everyone who planned and [revealed] how, through a foreign conspiracy, this corrupt lot, together with them, and others who were with them, ended my government. I recorded the video because it’s [part of the] history how the powerful are never brought under law and always remain safe. Those who betrayed this country, I want their faces to come in the open.”

The purported threat to Imran’s life was first spoken of by Faisal Vawda during the last few weeks of his government in late March.

Imran, in his speech tonight, said that his stance on rooting out corruption was not shared by those in “powerful positions”.

“During my 3.5 years I tried my best that those looting this country for the last 30 years got sentenced and action was taken against them, but those in powerful positions, who were supposed to do justice, did not consider corruption bad. They’ve accepted that powerful will steal and no one will catch them.”

Imran urged his supporters to participate in his planned march towards Islamabad, warning that if they did not do so then “this country will be destroyed.” He told his audience to brave the climatic hardships that the scorching summer is likely to throw at them on their way to the capital.

The PTI chairman also called on the youth to “start preparing immediately” for the march, adding that the government would try to impede the march by putting curbs on transport, petrol, internet and other services.

He predicted that a “sea of people” would be by his side when he heads to Islamabad.

Imran also questioned the judiciary about its handling of corruption cases against the Sharif family since the new government came into power, alleging that the officials in the Federal Investigation Agency were either being transferred or threatened.

He also lambasted the new government on the economic front, saying that the PTI regime had left it at a promising point but since the “regime change”, the rupee had depreciated alarmingly and the stock market had crashed.

---------------------------------------

Courtesy Dawn News

---------------

Sea of people in Islamabad to ‘sweep everyone away’ if elections not announced: Imran

 

ISLAMABAD, MAY 13: Former prime minister Imran Khan on Friday warned that a “sea of people” set to march towards Islamabad would “sweep everyone away” if the government did not announce a date for elections.

Addressing a huge public gathering in Mardan, Imran said an “absconder” sitting in London must realise that he would not be allowed to take decisions about Pakistan.

Imran emphasised that he was calling people to Islamabad for a “revolution” and not for politics.

Referring to Shehbaz Sharif, Asif Zardari and Maulana Fazlur Rehman as the “three stooges”, the PTI chief said they were slaves of America with their wealth stashed abroad.

He alleged that the coalition government would soon approach the US for help, adding that Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was also set to hold a meeting in America in this regard.

“It is the same America that had tapped your phone call with your mother when she was sharing the details of your family assets abroad,” Imran said, referring to Bilawal.

He continued that the PPP chairperson would “beg for more money” from the US on the pretext that Imran would return [to power] if the money was not provided.

“I know Americans very well … they say there is no free lunch. Everything has a cost and in the context of Pakistan, the cost is to provide them [military] bases,” the ex-PM said.

Imran said his government was set to procure wheat and oil from Russia at a 30 per cent discount, adding that “the current government cannot trade with Russia due to US pressure.”

He said Pakistan, under the new regime, would have to give statements against Russia because the US wanted it. The PTI chief claimed he was also told the same. “But I refused it as we are a sovereign country and not slaves of anyone”.