Islamabad:In response to the news item about a proposal to slap a ban on used computers and IT accessories, the Pakistan Computer Association (PCA) has outrightly rejected the proposal.

The proposal is being considered at Ministry of Information Technology on behest of some vested interest groups. PCA President Munawar Iqbal said that the move will benefit multinational companies dealing in new computers and increase their profits, take computers out of the range of poor students and affect livelihood of thousands of vendors dealing in used computers.

At present, there is no indigenous manufacture of computers and IT equipment and all computers, used and new, are being imported. Some international companies, manufacturing computer hardware with the help of some local profit-seeker groups, have been pressing the government to impose a ban on import of used computers and IT equipment, obviously to control the local market, he added.

While terming the move as “unjust and based on malevolence,” he said his association would resist the ban at every level. He added that Pakistan was a third world country where 80 per cent consumers buy second-hand computers and the government should realise that a large number of poor people cannot afford to buy a new computer costing between Rs25,000 and Rs45,000, adding that the price of a used desktop PC ranges between Rs5,000 and Rs10,000.
“The ban would deprive poor students of their right to modern education and the country would lose millions of dollars in foreign exchange if the proposal was approved,” he said. The news