PCA rejects ban on used computers’ import
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Computer Association (PCA) rejected on Monday a proposal being considered by the information technology ministry for banning on the import of used computers and IT accessories.
In a statement, PCA president Munawar Iqbal said the move would benefit multinational companies dealing in new computers and increase their profits, besides taking computers out of the range of poor students and affecting livelihood of thousands of vendors associated with the business of used computers.
He said presently there was no indigenous manufacturer of computers and IT equipment.
All the computers, used and new, are being imported, he added. Some international companies manufacturing computer hardware with the help of some profit-seeker groups have been pressing the government to impose ban on import of used computers and IT equipment to control the local market, he added.
Terming the move as “unjust and based on malevolence”, he said the PCA would resist the ban at every level. “Pakistan was a third world country where 80 per cent of the consumers buy secondhand computers,” he added.
He said government should realise that a large number of poor people could not afford to buy a new computer at the cost of Rs25,000 to Rs45,000.
The price of a used desktop PC ranges between Rs5,000 to Rs10,000, he said.
“The ban will deprive poor students of their right to modern computer education and the country would lose millions of dollars in foreign exchange, if the proposal was approved,” he said.
Source: Dawn
Date:3/9/2010
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