KARACHI: Destine to become the fourth fastest growing economy by 2030, Pakistan, supported by a growing population, fast growing business and increasing penetration of Internet, is poised to grab first position among the digital economies, Information Technology (IT) experts say.
US technology giant, Google, says Pakistan is quickly becoming a “digital-first country”, which means there are new opportunities for brands to reach and engage with consumers that may have previously been overlooked.
“It shows that Google has realized the marketing potential of the country and they are now encouraging businesses to focus on Pakistan as a potential market,” Badar Khushnood, vice president of growth at Fishry.Com and vice chairman of P@SHA, commented.
According to Google, there are five reasons for “considering expanding your digital campaigns into Pakistan”.
Pakistan’s growing population is the first reason that makes the country attractive for the foreign and local investors to venture into the IT sector.
“Pakistan has a population of more than 202 million people, which means there are lot of potential consumers coming online every day. And the country is even more urbanized than neighboring India, with nearly 40 percent of total households living in cities,” writes Lars Anthonisen, head of large customer marketing, South Asia, Google.
Pakistan’s economy grew by 5.7 percent in fiscal year 2018. HSBC in is recent report published in September 2018 has projected Pakistan to become the fourth fastest growing economy by 2030.
Around 90 percent of the companies in the country are SMEs which are contributing more that 40 percent to the country’s 313 billion economy, according to the State Bank of Pakistan.
Third attraction, according to Google, is the country’s growing smart phone users. Pakistan has 152 million cellar subscribers, and 60 million 3G/4G subscribers, according to Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).
This number will likely grow quickly as smart phone prices have dropped over the last few years. Pakistan also has some of the cheapest data prices in the world, which is helping to grow mobile app usage, according to Google.
However, experts say more work is needed to be done to fully utilize the existing potential. “We need to work on optic fibers, penetration of 4G, creation of data centers, telecom infrastructure and most importantly creation of awareness among masses,” Pervaiz Iftikhar, a member of the newly formed prime minister’s Taskforce on IT and Telecom, told Arab News.
Pakistan’s overall Internet penetration stands at 29.9 percent with 62 million broadband subscribers, a fourth attraction for the investor, as per Google. In spite of this, digital consumption in the country continues to grow quickly. YouTube watch time, for example, has seen over 60 percent growth over the last three years.
The Chinese-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is the largest Chinese investment venture in Pakistan with around $62 billion, a fifth reason to look toward Pakistan.
The mega project under BRI is not only limited to the infrastructure and energy sector but it is also contributing to the growth of the IT sector in Pakistan.
“One of the first CPEC projects is to lay 820 kilometers of fiber-optic cable, connecting more Pakistanis to the Internet. This is in addition to ongoing investments in 3G and 4G network expansions from China Mobile, and the company has already announced plans to invest another $225 million in 4G expansion (bringing its total investment to $2.4 billion),” writes Lars Anthonisen.
“We have to connect every village through fiber optics that will not only create thousands of jobs but would multiply opportunities for the IT business countrywide,” Pervaiz Iftikhar added.
“A lot of potential exists in the IT sector of Pakistan with the young population turning to computers, smart phones and other digital means, and the country offers big market for local and foreign investors”, Jehan Ara, another member of the prime minister’s Taskforce on IT and Telecom and president of P@SHA, commented.
Badar Khushnood, who is also former consultant of Google, Facebook and Twitter, called for comprehensive policy for the growth of the IT sector.
“Taxation systems should be rationalized, simplified, and encouraging for startups. The country also needs data protection laws, and broader cyber laws,” he added.
The first meeting of the prime minister’s Task Force on IT and Telecom is expected to be held next week in Islamabad. “Comprehensive strategy including short term and long term measures would be discussed in the upcoming meeting of taskforce because country needs a policy for the persistent growth of IT and Telecom sector”, Pervaiz Iftikhar informed.
Pakistan is rapidly becoming a “digital-first country”, Google
Pakistan is rapidly becoming a “digital-first country”, Google
- Pakistan digital growth is supported by population and increasing penetration of internet, IT experts
- Prime Minister’s Taskforce on IT and Telecom to meet next week to draw comprehensive policy
Apple adds new Syrian flag emoji
- New flag is part of latest iOS, macOS updates
DUBAI: Apple has added the new flag of the Syrian Arab Republic to its emoji keyboard in the latest beta update to its operating system, replacing the one used by former Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime.
The new flag emoji is part of Apple’s iOS and macOS 18.4 beta 2 update and is therefore unavailable to those who have not signed up for beta updates.
Apple will roll out the new updates to users in April, according to a company statement.
The old flag featured three stripes: red at the top, black at the bottom and white in the middle with two green stars.
The new flag features green at the top, black at the bottom and white in the middle with three red stars.
For many Syrians the new flag represents freedom and independence from Assad’s dictatorial regime.
The country has a long history with the current flag, which was first adopted when Syria gained independence from France in 1946.
It was replaced in 1958 by the flag of the United Arab Republic to represent the political union between Egypt and Syria.
It was adopted again for a short time when Syria left the United Arab Republic in 1961, only to be replaced in 1963 when the Baath Party took control of the country.
Newspaper in Syrian Arab Republic resumes circulation in Damascus after fall of Assad regime
- Media organization hails ‘victory for free journalism’
DUBAI: The Syrian newspaper Enab Baladi has resumed distribution in the streets of Damascus and its suburbs after more than a decade-long ban under Bashar Assad’s regime.
The newspaper, which dubs itself as “an independent Syrian media organization,” documented the Syrian regime’s violations during the revolution when it launched in 2012.
The newspaper’s distribution was limited to opposition-controlled northern areas until 2020 after Assad’s brutal crackdown on dissent.
Its editorial stance led to the arrest of many staff members, while others were tortured to death in prisons or killed by shelling and military operations in Daraya.
The media organization said: “The first copies were printed through self-funding and the efforts of its founding staff using a home printer, distributed secretly by volunteers in the neighborhoods of Daraya and Damascus.”
The organization relied on expanding its digital and visual content to reach audiences online, or through printed copies that were smuggled within Syria.
With the fall of the Assad regime on Dec. 8 last year after a 12-day blistering campaign led by Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, Enab Baladi resumed distribution in Damascus after a newsroom was established in the capital.
It said the move was aimed at “ensuring freedom of expression during an ambiguous transitional phase.”
The media organization added: “The return of printing inside Syria represents a victory for free journalism and an opportunity to reconnect with the audience inside Syria.”
Israeli military creating ChatGPT-like AI tool targeting Palestinians, says investigation
- Tool being built by Israeli army’s secretive cyber warfare unit
DUBAI: Israel’s military is developing an advanced artificial intelligence tool, similar to ChatGPT, by training it on Arabic conversations obtained through the surveillance of Palestinians living under occupation.
These are the findings of a joint investigation by The Guardian, Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 Magazine, and Hebrew-language outlet Local Call.
The tool is being built by the Israeli army’s secretive cyber warfare Unit 8200. The division is programming the AI tool to understand colloquial Arabic by feeding it vast amounts of phone calls and text messages between Palestinians, obtained through surveillance.
Three Israeli security sources with knowledge of the matter confirmed the existence of the AI tool to the outlets conducting the investigation.
The model was still undergoing training last year and it is unclear if it has been deployed and to what end. However, sources said that the tool’s ability to rapidly process large quantities of surveillance material in order to “answer questions” about specific individuals would be a huge benefit to the Israeli army.
During the investigation, several sources highlighted that Unit 8200 had used smaller-scale machine learning models in recent years.
One source said: “AI amplifies power; it’s not just about preventing shooting attacks. I can track human rights activists, monitor Palestinian construction in Area C (of the West Bank). I have more tools to know what every person in the West Bank is doing. When you hold so much data, you can direct it toward any purpose you choose.”
An Israel Defense Forces spokesperson declined to respond to The Guardian’s question about the new AI tool, but said the military “deploys various intelligence methods to identify and thwart terrorist activity by hostile organizations in the Middle East.”
Unit 8200’s previous AI tools, such as The Gospel and Lavender, were among those used during the war on Hamas. These tools played a key role in identifying potential targets for strikes and bombardments.
Moreover, for nearly a decade, the unit has used AI to analyze the communications it intercepts and stores, sort information into categories, learn to recognize patterns and make predictions.
When ChatGPT’s large language model was made available to the public in November 2022, the Israeli army set up a dedicated intelligence team to explore how generative AI could be adapted for military purposes, according to former intelligence officer Chaked Roger Joseph Sayedoff.
However, ChatGPT’s parent company OpenAI rejected Unit 8200’s request for direct access to its LLM and refused to allow its integration into the unit’s system.
Sayedoff highlighted another problem: existing language models could only process standard Arabic, not spoken Arabic in different dialects, resulting in Unit 8200 needing to develop its own program.
One source said: “There are no transcripts of calls or WhatsApp conversations on the internet. It doesn’t exist in the quantity needed to train such a model.”
Unit 8200 started recruiting experts from private tech companies in October 2023 as reservists. Ori Goshen, co-CEO and co-founder of the Israeli tech company AI21 Labs, confirmed that his employees participated in the project during their reserve duty.
The challenge for Unit 8200 was to “collect all the (spoken Arabic) text the unit has ever had and put it into a centralized place,” a source said, adding that the model’s training data eventually consisted of about 100 billion words.
Another source familiar with the project said the communications analyzed and fed to the training model included conversations in Lebanese and Palestinian dialects.
Goshen explained the benefits of LLMs for intelligence agencies but added that “these are probabilistic models — you give them a prompt or a question, and they generate something that looks like magic, but often the answer makes no sense.”
Zach Campbell, a senior surveillance researcher at Human Rights Watch, called such AI tools “guessing machines.”
He said: “Ultimately, these guesses can end up being used to incriminate people.”
Campbell and Nadim Nashif, director and founder of the Palestinian digital rights and advocacy group 7amleh, also raised concerns about the collection of data and its use in training the AI tool.
Campbell said: “We are talking about highly personal information, taken from people who are not suspected of any crime, to train a tool that could later help establish suspicion.”
Nashif said: “Palestinians have become subjects in Israel’s laboratory to develop these techniques and weaponize AI, all for the purpose of maintaining (an) apartheid and occupation regime where these technologies are being used to dominate a people, to control their lives.
“This is a grave and continuous violation of Palestinian digital rights, which are human rights.”
IDF launches Turkish-language social media accounts
- Move comes amid rising tensions between Israel and Turkiye sparking speculation about the former’s motive
DUBAI: The Israeli army has created new Turkish-language accounts on social media platforms X and Telegram.
Israeli military official Arye Sharuz Shalicar acted as the spokesperson of the account on X welcoming Turkish users.
Israil Savunma Kuvvetleri’nin resmi X hesabına hoş geldiniz! Bu platform, ISK ile ilgili gelişmeler hakkında güvenilir ve anlık güncellemeler sağlamak amacıyla kullanılacaktır. pic.twitter.com/EknF0c6xno
— IDF Türkçe (@TurkishIDF) March 4, 2025
The account on X has drawn criticism and speculation about Israel’s motives and Shalicar’s history as a gang member in Germany.
Media reports suggest that the decision to open Turkish-language accounts comes after Turkiye’s emergence as a key player in the region, particularly in Syria.
“Israel has identified Turkiye as becoming a stronger player in the region, following the fall of the Assad regime in Syria,” said a report by The Times of Israel.
In January, the Nagel Committee, formed by the Israeli government, said that the country must prepare for a potential war with Turkiye.
It released a report saying that “the threat from Syria could evolve into something even more dangerous than the Iranian threat” and that Turkish-backed forces could act as proxies further threatening Israel’s “security,” according to Israeli media reports.
Following Israel’s attacks in southwestern Syria, Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued a statement on Monday.
Although he did not name Israel, he said: “Those seeking to benefit from Syria’s instability will not succeed. We will not allow them to divide Syria as they imagine.”
Israeli authorities extend detention of Palestinian sports journalist over alleged Hamas support in TV interview
- Saeed Hasanein was detained after appearing on Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa TV
- His lawyers say court ruling is politically motivated and part of broader crackdown on critics
LONDON: Israeli authorities on Tuesday extended the detention of Palestinian sports journalist and announcer Saeed Hasanein, who was accused of expressing support for Hamas during a televised interview in February.
Hasanein has been in custody for about a week and faces charges from Israeli police, including “incitement,” “supporting terrorism” and “communicating with a foreign agent.”
The Magistrate’s Court in Acre ruled to extend his detention until Sunday — the third extension in the case — after prosecutors alleged that Hasanein appeared on Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa TV.
“He who only thinks about joining the occupation army must think a million times where he is going and how he is selling his conscience, his moral compass and his religion on this immoral path,” Hasanein said in an interview obtained and aired by Israel’s Channel 14.
During the interview, he added that the way Hamas treated female hostages in Gaza “proves conclusively who is the barbarian and who is the humane one” in the Israel-Hamas war.
A longtime sports commentator, Hasanein was also dismissed from his role as an announcer for Bnei Sakhnin F.C., one of Israel’s most successful Arab clubs.
Following the court’s ruling, Hasanein’s lawyer, Alaa Mahajneh, denounced the case as politically motivated, describing his client’s detention as part of a broader crackdown on Palestinian activists and voices critical of the war.
“It is ultimately up to the police whether to press charges, but we are being realistic,” Mahajneh said, adding that members of Hasanein's family were also interrogated by Israeli police.
“Given the Israeli media’s incitement and how the case has become a public issue, an indictment is possible. Right now, our focus is on ending the detention, as arrests should be based on legal grounds, not punishment or sending political messages to the Arab community.”
The extension of Hasanein’s detention comes amid increasing restrictions on Palestinian public expression. Recently, Israeli authorities raided a bookstore in East Jerusalem, detaining two of its owners on suspicion of “violating public order.”
The booksellers were released after five days, following mounting pressure from rights groups and international figures. They accused Israeli authorities of attempting to suppress Palestinian culture and “creating a climate of fear” for local residents.
