Digitisation of Pakistan's economy-security aspects.

Byline: Major Adil Raja(R)

He sounded so convincing, on the phone, with his posh English accent. I received his call from a local line, local to the scenic town, on the outskirts of London that I lived in, one of the home counties of England, where my wife was born and raised. Thankfully she was with me while I listened to the gentleman on the phone's speaker. He craftily told me that my credit card had been used to pay a suspicious online transaction. In order for him to cancel the transaction, he required me to confirm my card details. Being a fighting army officer with a straightforward and no-nonsense kind of an upbringing, I most probably would have been taken in by the cheerful sounding man on the other end of the line, but the lawyer in my wife realised what was happening and to my surprise she told the man to 'get lost'. After all, God did make wives to keep men on the straight and narrow.

Living in a digital economy can be quite challenging until you get used to it and even then, there is always an element of opportunity for the cons and crooks. Awareness about digital fraud coupled with law enforcement, equipped with dealing in digital crimes down to the police station level is very important.

Prime Minister Imran Khan, in his efforts to make 'Naya Pakistan,' brought in the idea of a digital revolution, capitalising on the human resources in Pakistan. His government embarked upon the ambitious journey of digitising the economy. The move has only now started to pay off, and is just the beginning of a long journey of digitisation. Pakistan has the potential to turn the wheels of the economy through this digital revolution; in the financial sector in particular. The whole credit goes to Prime Minister Imran Khan's team for starting this revolution.

The Pakistani remittance record through the Roshan Digital Account is one of the major success stories of this commendable effort. Prime Minister Imran Khan is making use of the international monetary system through the State Bank of Pakistan and is a good model to show the world about Pakistan's investment potential, but it requires people to get used to the digital economy. For this initiative to succeed, the people of Pakistan have to voluntarily contribute. The success of digital banking initiatives and participation by citizens is an interdependent arrangement which will...