Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Friday met Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Shaza Fatima Khawaja and discussed the Digital Nation Pakistan framework, the National Digital Commission (NDC), the National Digital Masterplan, data governance, artificial intelligence, and the alignment of Sindh’s digital initiatives with the national digital agenda.
CM, Federal IT Minister discusses Digital Nation Pakistan Framework, Sindh’s Digital Transformation
KARACHI, Aug 28 (APP): Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Friday met Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Shaza Fatima Khawaja and discussed the Digital Nation Pakistan framework, the National Digital Commission (NDC), the National Digital Masterplan, data governance, artificial intelligence, and the alignment of Sindh’s digital initiatives with the national digital agenda.
The Federal Minister was accompanied by Federal Secretary IT & Telecom Zarrar Hasham Khan, Chairman of Pakistan Digital Authority (PDA) Dr Suhail Munir, and CEO Ignite Bilal Abbasi.
The CM was assisted by his Special Assistant on IT Ali Rashid, Secretary to CM Asif Jameel, Secretary IT Agha Sohail and CEO SITC Zain-ul-Abedin Shah and others.
The Federal Minister for IT Shaza Fatima Khawaja briefed the Chief Minister on the Digital Nation Pakistan Act, 2025, and the federal government’s vision of building a digital society, digital economy and digital governance ecosystem.
The briefing highlighted the role of the National Digital Commission, chaired by the Prime Minister and comprising all provincial Chief Miinisters, and the Pakistan Digital Authority, which is responsible for preparing the National Digital Masterplan, digital public infrastructure, data governance and AI frameworks.
The Chief Minister was informed that Pakistan has already established more than 100 digital platforms nationwide, while Sindh has developed over 50 digital initiatives, including SRB e-Services, Sindh Zameen, E-Pay Sindh, E-Office, the Sindh Job Portal, Safe City systems and other citizen-centric digital services.
The Frderal Minister emphasised the need for greater interoperability among government institutions, integration through the National Data Exchange Layer (WASL), and coordinated efforts to accelerate digital transformation in key sectors, including health, agriculture, housing, financial services and commerce.
Murad Ali Shah welcomed the initiative and reiterated Sindh’s support for the national digital agenda. He said Sindh would work closely with the federal government while ensuring that provincial ownership of data, systems, priorities and implementation decisions remains intact.
He said Sindh would review the draft National Digital Masterplan and provide its input, adding that the province would also prepare its own Digital Masterplan aligned with national objectives and provincial requirements.
The chief minister supported the proposal to institutionalise digital transformation across departments through dedicated Digital, Data and AI offices and agreed that the Rules of Business, procurement procedures and planning frameworks should be updated to accommodate digital governance, electronic records, cybersecurity and technology-driven service delivery.
Discussing the National Data Governance Policy and WASL integration, the Chief Minister directed the Information Science & Technology Department to continue engagement with the Pakistan Digital Authority and complete consultations with relevant provincial departments.
He stressed that any data-sharing framework should preserve provincial control and ownership of data.
The meeting concluded with an agreement to strengthen the federal-provincial coordination on digital governance, public service delivery reforms, artificial intelligence, data governance and the implementation of priority sectoral digital transformation initiatives.
