I have written an article for Dawn Sci-Tech which was published last weekend, or perhaps last year :). It was their year ender special issue and I was told by the editor to write an article on the topic of "IT and its development in 2005." The deadline was tough and I had to complete the article within 2 days. And as it was going to be a cover story, getting views from IT experts was making the work even impossible. But thanks to Adnan and Hammad bhai and especially Sir Saqib Ilyas for taking out the time to give their views. I received Sir Saqib comments at the very last moment, when I was about to send the article, but believe me it was worth the wait. I couldn't include all the comments in the piece as it was already crossing the article's length, for which I am really sorry to you guys. However, I think Sir Saqib's comments are worth mentioning, so I thought I can atleast publish it here. So here it goes:

In the so-called war on terrorism, in return for Pakistan's surprisingly, or not so, high support, the US has assisted Pakistan directly and indirectly, which has resulted in increased business in ceratin sectors, including IT. For this reason, there has been some increase. Also, outsourcing has really caught on, and some parts of India becoming quite expensive, people are looking elsewhere, and due to being a US ally, Pakistan is also a viable place to look at. Also, Pakistan houses fairly good talent pool and the accent is not too heavy.
How long this will last is an important question. It depends on us as to whether we are able to make a name for ourselves or not. We sold rice to the mideast and hid heroin inside it. It got caught and those countries put a ban on Pakistani rice imports. Now, Pakistani rice is smuggled to India, put in bags with Made in India stamps and exported to these same countries. If our businesses keep that mindset, we're not getting anywhere. The powers that be and the investors are very shortsighted and have a tunnle vision about IT. All they can think of are call centers, which in my opinion are bullshit. Attaur Rehman was preaching call center establishment as a rule to everyone he met, including the sabzi wala. He and others cant think beyond that. So, where are the IT educated folks? Doing jobs at the Seth's tiny software house doing impossible hours, and getting paid in penuts in most cases. The mindset needs to be changed. For business to grow, I think that the businesses must hire a good management team, and give them full powers ( I mean FULL Power). Let them set the business goals and poicies. In India, the seths were very forthcoming when the first Indian expats came to them a long time ago to setup IT realted businesses. These people invested millions in those concerns and waited years and in some cases decades for the benefits to arrive. They were patient, we are not. Our seth wants to receive the benefit before he makes the investment. That mindset has to change or the business reigns need to be given to others more competent, hence the management team. People from vibrant business schools like LUMS have taken businesses from lakhs to Billions per year and beyond. That is the key on the business policy side.
Now, the talent pool is quite lacking. Excepting for perhaps 10-20 students per year, throughout the country, what comes out of the computer science/engineering program is not well equipped to deliver right away, the IT organization most of the times is unable to invest proper orientation to him, and things just drag along as the new kid learns the tricks of the trade the hard way.
Is there something wrong with the curriculum. Not at all. The same courses are taught to BCom students as to BBA students at IBA or LUMS. Why the difference in the graduates? The difference does not lie in the caliber of the students entirely, although it does to some extent. A lot of it has to do with the way things are taught. While we may have people with excellent intellectual abilities and a lot of knowledge of the subjects, we have few good teachers who are able to deliver the matter in a way that the students absorb it and are able to actually apply that knowledge somewhere. That's the key.
Some cs programs at private universities and even CSIT at NED are revising their curricula to have more job related courses, but that is an absurd idea.

You can read the article here.