Islamabad: The Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA) has joined hands with the British Council under Team Europe’s Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Sector Support Programme to hold a high-impact session in Gilgit on industry linkages and graduate employability.
Muhammad Zohaib Khan, Chair Special Initiatives at P@SHA, said the session, held at Serena Hotel, Gilgit, was aimed at highlighting the need for closer coordination among the government, academia and industry to support employment and IT exports from the region.
P@SHA is the apex trade body representing Pakistan’s IT and IT-enabled Services (ITeS) industry.
Addressing the forum, Muhammad Zohaib Khan said Gilgit-Baltistan has significant untapped digital talent that can play an important role in increasing Pakistan’s IT exports and creating local employment opportunities.
He, however, pointed out that the region’s economic potential cannot be fully realised without reliable, uninterrupted and high-speed internet connectivity. He cautioned that in the absence of strong digital infrastructure, the youth of Gilgit-Baltistan would remain disconnected from opportunities in the global market.
He also underlined the need to develop synchronised government-academia-industry linkages so that university and TVET curricula are aligned with the real-time requirements of the IT export sector.
P@SHA is also working with the local IT sector body, the Gilgit-Baltistan Software Houses Association (GBSHA), in the areas of policy advocacy, skills development, export facilitation and employment generation.
The event included panel discussions featuring key regional and national stakeholders, including Muhammad Zohaib Khan; Prof Dr Abdul Razaq, Acting Vice Chancellor of Karakoram International University (KIU); and Zameer Abbas, Secretary IT, Gilgit-Baltistan.
Former P@SHA Central Executive Committee member Nadia Iqbal also attended the session, reflecting the association’s continued focus on grassroots IT infrastructure and regional development initiatives in the territory.
Supporting the same vision, P@SHA Chairman Dr Shoab Ahmed Khan said Pakistan’s national IT export targets could not be achieved by relying only on major metropolitan centres.
He said bringing underserved regions such as Gilgit-Baltistan into the national IT mainstream was a strategic priority for P@SHA. He added that, through collaborative interventions supported by international partners including the European Union and the British Council, the association was working to ensure that regional graduates acquire accredited and in-demand technical skills that can lead directly to high-value employment.
P@SHA said it remains committed, through these multi-stakeholder efforts, to advocating improvements in telecom and digital infrastructure across the country so that talent from every part of Pakistan can contribute to the country’s knowledge-based export economy.
