ISLAMABAD: In a major step toward implementing Pakistan’s ambitious digital transformation agenda, the federal government has formed a high-powered Search and Selection Committee for appointing top officials of the newly created Pakistan Digital Authority (PDA).
The move comes as part of efforts to operationalize the Digital Nation Pakistan Act, 2025, under which three new bodies—the PDA, the Strategic Oversight Committee (SOC), and the National Digital Commission (NDC)—will be established to oversee and guide the country’s digital governance framework.
The Selection Committee, approved by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, is chaired by Federal Minister for IT and Telecommunication Shaza Fatima Khawaja. Its members include key decision-makers such as the Federal Ministers for Economic Affairs and Railways, Minister of State for Finance and PMDU Bilal Azhar Kayani, and secretaries of the Establishment, Cabinet, and IT Divisions. Salman Akhtar, a member of the PRAL Board, also joins the panel as a private sector representative.
Tasked with shortlisting qualified individuals, the committee will recommend three candidates for each of the three top slots—Chairperson and two Members of the PDA—to the Prime Minister. It also holds the authority to propose salary packages and negotiate employment terms with the selected candidates.
The PDA is envisioned as the nucleus of Pakistan’s digital transformation, responsible for developing, implementing, and monitoring a National Digital Master Plan. Once the appointments are finalized, the Authority will roll out a monitoring and evaluation framework to track digital governance projects nationwide.
Earlier, Minister Shaza Fatima, while briefing the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on IT and Telecom, emphasized that the PDA would be critical in strengthening cybersecurity, streamlining digital identities, and eliminating paperwork, thereby reducing corruption and improving public service delivery.
She also noted that bureaucratic resistance in government offices remains one of the biggest hurdles to digitisation, and stressed the importance of involving provinces and all stakeholders to achieve true digital integration.
Currently, the lack of a centralized authority and poor coordination among federal and provincial departments often results in administrative chaos and policy loopholes, hampering progress.
Under the new legal framework, the other two governing bodies are:
* Strategic Oversight Committee (SOC): To be chaired by the IT Minister, with secretaries of IT, Finance, and Planning, along with private sector representatives. SOC will monitor PDA’s performance and provide independent reviews to ensure alignment with national goals.
* National Digital Commission (NDC): Headed by the Prime Minister, the NDC will include all four Chief Ministers, key federal ministers, and heads of institutions like FBR, NADRA, SECP, PTA, PDA, and the State Bank. It will approve the National Digital Master Plan and coordinate cross-government digitisation efforts.
However, the new framework hasn’t come without controversy. Digital rights activists, particularly the Digital Rights Foundation (DRF), have raised alarm bells, arguing that the SOC and NDC could centralize decision-making in the hands of political leaders, raising the risk of politicization and lack of transparency.
DRF contends that the SOC should be an independent, autonomous body with robust private sector representation. The group fears that having the IT Minister at the helm could compromise the objectivity and inclusiveness needed for a transparent digital future.
As the government accelerates its push for a digitally empowered Pakistan, questions of governance, autonomy, and public trust remain at the center of this unfolding transformation.
