Fouad Bajwa is a public policy entrepreneur and co-founder of Byonyks, the Agriculture Republic and the Digital Trade Alliance. He actively participates and advises on issues related to Internet Governance in Pakistan and across various foras globally.
Director General, CVD, PTA
Dr. Muhammad Mukaram Khan
Dr. Mukaram Khan is working as Director General Cyber Vigilance at Pakistan Telecommunication Authority. He is a Software Engineer from NUST and holds MPhil and PhD from the university of Manchester in Information Security and Super Computing respectively. He is a cyber security professional with CISSP to his credit, besides various technical certifications.
Before this assignment, he has been working as CTO Pakistan Army and worked in various capacities to manage datacenters, designing enterprise architectures and leading nation-wide IT/cyber security projects. He is also associated with NUST as part-time academic to teach and supervise postgrad research in the areas of cyber security, AI, blockchain and system engineering.
ICT Policy and Regulation Consultant
Parvez Iftikhar
With more than 40 years of experience, Parvez Iftikhar is currently providing consulting services on ICT Policy and Regulation in various countries, mainly through global organizations like World Bank, ITU, DFID, USAID, and international consulting houses. Parvez has been the founding CEO of Universal Service Fund (USF) Pakistan (under the Ministry of IT), and the country-head of Siemens “Com” in Pakistan. He has been on sabbaticals to Carnegie Mellon, and Harvard Kennedy School, USA, and Oxford University UK. He received extensive technical and managerial training at Siemens, mainly in Europe. Parvez is also a member of Pakistan Prime Minister’s Task Force on IT and Telecom
Legal and Regulatory Consultant
Ms. Ameena Sohail
Ameena Sohail, a legal and regulatory consultant for network infrastructure entities and a lawyer by profession graduated from the International Islamic University, Islamabad in 1995. With experience of advising both public and private entities in the field of policy making, legislation, negotiating infrastructure contracts and defending clients before adjudicating bodies, she enjoys her work as a strategist for various advocacy assignments, the most. Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016 (PECA) is an important piece of legislation to her credit which was supervised by her from its formulation to its passage by the Parliament as Member (legal) at the Ministry of IT & Telecom, where all steps in the process were handled by Ameena herself and she further worked on the body of rules to be notified under PECA. Mrs. Sohail is currently the managing partner of M/s Precision Advocates and Consultants
President of Internet Society Accessibility Special Interest Group
Muhammad Shabbir
Mr. Muhammad Shabbir Awan is Founding President of Internet Society Accessibility Special Interest Group (Accessibility SIG) and member board of directors ISOC Pakistan Islamabad Chapter. Professionally a researcher in the domain of strategic studies, he is also pursuing his PhD in International Relations. Working in the domains of international relations and internet governance, Shabbir has a number of publications and international fellowships on his credit. He has also been working for the organizations of persons with disabilities since 1997 as a volunteer. Leading the working group on accessibility for persons with disabilities, Mr. Awan along with other representatives of PWDs, helped MOIT draft “Digital Pakistan” policy 2018. He is also the member of Pakistan School on Internet Governance (PKSIG) Steering Committee, Multi Stakeholder Group (MSG) of Asia Pacific Regional Internet Governance Forum (APRIGF), International Political Science Association (IPSA), Islamabad Council on World Affairs (ICWA), and member of Multi Stakeholder Group of Pakistan Internet Governance Forum.
Director (Cyber Security) in Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA)
Ahmed Bakhat Masood
Ahmed Bakhat Masood is currently working as Deputy Director (Cyber Security) in Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA), previously worked in PTCL and Instaphone. By qualification, he is MS Telecom & Networks, Master in Computer Science (MCS), Lead auditor ISO 27001, MCSE. Mr. Ahmed played a pivotal role in establishment of Pakistan IXP, in making consensus amongst all stakeholders of IXP in Pakistan and currently working as secretary to IXP board. He remained Chair of Task Force on Arabic Internationalized Domain Names (TF-AIDN), a subgroup of ICANN, from July 2017 to June 2020. He also remained a member of the Program Committee of the Middle East DNS Forum, ICANN for four from 2015 to 2018. He is currently a member of the steering committee of pkSIG since 2016 and managing secretariat. Apart from other achievements, Mr. Ahmed played a vital role in the success of South Asian Network Operators Group (SANOG) 29, at Islamabad Pakistan.
Assistant Director, PTA and Vice-Chair, Asia-Pacific Regional Internet Governance Forum
Waqas Hassan
Waqas has telecom/ICT regulatory experience of 16 years and contributes actively at the national and global forums such as APrIGF, APSIG, pkSIG, pkIGF, ISOC Pak chapter. He is an expert in internet public policy, stakeholder management and partnerships, advocacy and program development. He is alumni of DIPLO, APrIGF, APSIG, SANOG, CLDP and LIRNEasia. He manages PTA’s engagements with ITU, APT, GSMA, SAMENA and global tech companies. Waqas believes in an open, secure and all-inclusive Internet.
Fouad Bajwa
CEO, Digital Dera
Mohammad Ismail
CEO Pacific Connect Private Limited
An Experienced Network and Telecom Professional with skills to design,
map, sell, deploy complex solutions for the Telecom, Networks, Security,
Lawful Intercept for Data, Internet as well as LTE.
map, sell, deploy complex solutions for the Telecom, Networks, Security,
Lawful Intercept for Data, Internet as well as LTE.
Lu Heng
Founder & CEO of LARUS Limited, Advisory Council Member of Pacific Telecommunications Council (PTC)
Mr. Lu Heng founded his very first company at the age of 18 – a company which did business in the game industry from which he made his first success as an entrepreneur. During his studies in the Netherlands, Mr Lu learnt about the Internet in depth and had established extensive network in the industry. He foresaw that the Internet would be the future of our world, while cloud service and IP (Internet Protocol) would be the core which supported this world.
With this belief, he founded Cloud Innovation Limited in 2013, now providing millions of IP (Internet Protocol) addresses to the market. In 2016, he founded LARUS Limited, which has since become the market leader of IP (Internet Protocol) solutions provider in the world.
Mr. Lu believes that education is critical in promoting a better Internet. In 2019, he established LARUS Foundation to promote education on the Internet. The Foundation has sponsored more than a thousand of students from Africa to participate in major Internet events in the same year. Mr. Lu is presently the Advisory Council member of Pacific Telecommunications Council (PTC) to help guide the Council’s work and progress with his knowledge and industry experience.
DG, IT Board, AJK
Dr. Khalid Rafique
Dr. Khalid Rafique is the Director General, Information Technology Board, Azad Jammu & Kashmir. He has a lead role in the Digital Transformation campaign for public sector departments in AJK and digital governance vision of the government through technology deployment. Dr. Khalid has also served as Senior Manager Business Development at Pakistan Telecommunication Limited- the largest hybrid (Fixed/wireless) Telecom operator in Pakistan. Dr. Khalid has worked extensively in Electrical, Telecom and ICT industry since 1996 mainly towards technology management and ICT development.
He has Engineering degrees in Electrical & Telecommunications and a PhD degree in emerging ICT ecosystem . His research area is the evolving opportunities and challenges in ICT industry. He has research publications in the same area and has got publications in international journals and conferences.
Marketing Lead, South Asia Frontier Markets, Google
Aaqib Hasnain
Aaqib is a curious, purpose driven marketer with experience working in dynamic corporate and start-up environments across Europe and South (East) Asia. He is passionate about empowering emerging markets, businesses and individuals to lead better lives through technology, and bringing communities together to create positive change. Currently, he is leading Google’s marketing efforts (Ads, Consumer, Brand, Ecosystem) to develop, grow, and digitize the South Asian Frontier markets (Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka).
Head of Connectivity and Access Policy for APAC
Dr. Syed Ismail Shah
Dr. Syed Ismail Shah is the Head of Connectivity and Access Policy for APAC and is based out of Meta Singapore. He covers all aspects of connectivity policy in the APAC region including spectrum, infrastructure, online communication services and accessibility across the region.
Prior to joining Meta, Dr. Shah was the ITU Area Representative for Southeast Asia and other Member States in Asia and the Pacific. He also remained the Chairman of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) from Sept. 2013 till Nov. 2017.
Director, Pakistan Global Next Generation Collaboration
Sohaib Saleem
With over 16 years of experience in Business Development, Technology Integration and Operations Management in high-volume domestic and International organizations in Pakistan & abroad. He was associated with Private, NGO and Education sector from the past 12 years and now heading Research and Development Office of a Public Sector University from the past 5 years.
Having worked in Pakistan, UAE and USA after completing his degree in Computer Sciences followed by a MS in Engineering Management/ Management with specialization in Project Management from UET Taxila, he has skilled up himself to be a management professional with proven track record in professional teaching, training and executive development programs as a recommended trainer by Telcos, Education and Gov. Organizations. He plaid a key role in establishing Internet Society Pakistan Islamabad Chapter while holding the positions of first Secretary General, Vice-Chair and President as well.
Lt Col Numan Maqbool
Pakistan Army, Corps of Signals
Lt Col Numan Maqbool joined Pakistan Army in Corps of Signals in Oct 1999. The Officer has vast experience of Command, Staff and Instruction which include Command of Signal unit in North Waziristan Tribal District and Instructor at Pakistan Military Academy, Kakul. He is graduate of Military College of Signals, Rwp, People Liberation Army University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, China and Pakistan Command & Staff Course, Quetta. Presently, Lt Col Numan is serving as Commanding Officer of 61 Composite Signals Battalion of SCO since October last year and looking after Communcation and Information Technology services in 7x Districts of AJ&K
