PKNIC Policy Board

The PKINC policy for the domain names is subject to enhancements and modifications driven by the PKNIC Policy Group, that seek to devise .PK policies that are equitable and fair to all affected Internet stakeholders, including PKNIC. The PKNIC Policy Group is comprised of the members and observers from the Internet Community and those with vested interest towards the betterment of the Internet stakeholders for .PK domains.

The PKNIC Policy Advisory Board members provide ongoing policy guidance to PKNIC. From time to time, PKNIC will host Policy Advisory Group meetings, in person or virtually over the Internet, in order to review and devise .PK domain name policies that are equitable and fair to all affected Internet stakeholders, including PKNIC.

The PKNIC Advisory Group has been replaced by the new PKNIC Policy Group, and all reference to the PKNIC Advisory Group functions in th current PKNIC Policy text below will be performed by the PKNIC Policy Group.

The scope for the relevant policy framework includes the following:

  • .PK domain names validity policy;
  • The level of restrictions or prohibitions placed on indecent, derogatory or profane domain names, the determination of a definition and process for identifying the decency and profanity in a domain name;
  • The policies and terms regarding domain de-activation, grace periods, and making domain names available to others to register;
  • Creation of processes, rules, deliberations and dispute resolution procedures regarding domain name transfer between two parties, or from one registrar to another; 
  • Devising policy for the namespaces for various tiers of recognized and other levels of educational institutes, and the definition of requirements for their domain registration;
  • Issues regarding the privacy provisions to the otherwise public record information of the domain record data;
  • Decisions surrounding the issue of conveying through the domain name, hate, or derogatory material against any religion, person, living or dead, city or a sovereign entity, or a public office;
  • Oversee the tasks forces policy making process for IDN Urdu domain names;
  • Certain other matters related to the domain names or registrants; provided however, that the disposition of such other matters does not put a financial burden or negatively impact the operations of .PK root servers.

 

Policy Group Constituents

Shahzad Ahmad
Civil Society

  

Mr Shahzad Ahmad is an activist for the civil rights cause under the organization Bytes for All, which is a platform to deliberate, highlight and organize debate on the relevance of ICT to development activities. They aim to critically examine the issues whether (ICT) can be any effective tool to fight against poverty, illiteracy and social injustice that loom the countries in South Asia.

Dr. Farrukh Kamran
Academia

  

Dr. Farrukh Kamran represents academia where he has 17 years of teaching experience at various levels in some of the best Engineering Institutions in Pakistan besides multiple years of electronic system design experience working in industry, both in Pakistan and in USA. Dr Kamran specializes in electronic/digital system design including power electronics and communication systems. He has authored or co-authored twenty-three technical papers, six of these have been published in the prestigious IEEE transactions on Power Electronics and Industry Applications.

Ambreen Waheed
Corporate Social Responsibility

  

Ms Ambreen Waheed is among the pioneers of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and workplace process integrity in Pakistan. She is the Founder and Executive Director of the Responsible Business Initiative, Pakistan's only citizen sector organization dedicated to corporate responsibility and ICT.

She has served on: the Board Nominating Committee of Global Reporting Initiative; the Steering Board UN Global Compact in Pakistan; the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) Governance Taskforce; and the Board of Trustees . Asia-Pacific Roundtable for Sustainable Consumption & Production. She is a founding member of: Asia-Pacific CSR Centers Group; the South Asia Alliance for Responsible Business; the Asian Forum on CSR; Fairtrade Pakistan; and the Globally Responsible Leaders Initiative of the Global Compact Learning Forum & EFMD.

Ms Waheed has been invited as CSR & ICT expert on ICAP Corporate Governance Committee; SECP NGO Accountability Policy taskforce; the UNCTAD ISAR committee; the Accountability-UNEP Review Committee; Asia-Pacific regional ICT consultation. She has served the juries for the Asia Forum CSR Awards; AIM-INTEL Corporate Responsibility Award;and the ACCA-WWF Environmental reporting Awards. She Chairs the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Emerging Markets Working Group.

Amjad Farooq
ISP

  

Mr Amjad Alvi is CEO of Brain Telecommunication Limited. Brain NET is pioneer in Internet Service industry in Pakistan and considered to be one of the largest Internet service provider with greater geographical coverage and vast range of internet solutions for consumer and corporate sector. They are also granted Local Loop License (LLC) by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to run Telecom operations.

Yousuf Safdari
International Law

  

Mr. Safdari is a partner at the prestigious law firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, where he focuses on sophisticated corporate and securities matters for public and private companies, international transactions, strategic alliances, private equity and venture capital investments. Mr. Safdari has counseled many large public companies, financial institutions and multinational companies on corporate structuring issues and compliance matters. In addition, Mr. Safdari has extensive experience in representing technology and emerging growth companies at every stage of their lifecycle.

Mr. Safdari is a Charter Member of the Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE). Mr. Safdari has served as a guest lecturer at TiE and Stanford University Law School.

Zahid Jamil
Legal and Policy framework

  

Mr Zahid. U. Jamil is an elected member of ICANN's GNSO Council (Generic Names Supporting Organization).

Mr.Jamil is an experienced specialist in legal and policy advice relating to Information Technology, E-Commerce, Electronic Data Interchange, Telematic Data Interchange, WIPO patent and trademark, and contractual and evidential issues. He has been, as a member of the Information Technology Law Forum, Ministry of Science & Technology, responsible as the core drafter of the Electronic Transactions Ordinance, 2002 and is currently working on the drafts of the Cyber Crimes Law, the Electronic Banking Law, Telecommunication & Convergence Law and the Anti-Trust Law relating to the Information Technology Industry of Pakistan, as well as helping ICC and ACFACT in formulating global and regional policy related to electronic commerce and transaction work.

Zia Imran
Software Industry

  

Zia Imran is CEO of software house Vahzay Inc, and Ex-Chairman of PASHA. Vahzay is a software and systems services company started by professionals with more than 40+ years of cumulative experience working with hi-tech companies in Silicon Valley and delivering complex information systems to Fortune 500 companies in the US. Vahzay believes in a global services delivery model and has offices in Silicon Valley and Asia.

Irfan Rashid
Technical

  

Mr Irfan Rashid oversees the technical development wing of PKNIC, and has over twenty years of experience working at multi-nationals in Pakistan, and two Silicon Valley start-up companies in USA. He has deep understanding of the issues and challenges of technical operations of a domain Registry such as PKNIC, and their implications in the context of a policy framework.

Ashar Nisar
PKNIC

  

Ashar Nisar is the Founder and Chief Executive of PKNIC.

Ex-Memebers

Mohammad Amir Malik
PTA Liaison

  

Mr. Muhammad Amir Malik is working as Director ICT at Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, Pakistan. Primary task is to manage overall activities of ICT Directorate; Study the implication of future technologies on ICT sector in Pakistan and device mechanism for effective implementation. Keep up with latest regulatory affairs and trends emerging due to the technological change.

Previously, Mr. Malik was working as Project Director at the Electronic Government Directorate, Ministry of Information Technology, Pakistan. Main assignment was to manage and plan hosting of e-Office application suite at "Federal Government Data Centre".

Jehan Ara
Software & IT Association

   Jehan Ara is the President of Pakistan Software House Association. Pakistan Software Houses Association for IT and ITES (P@SHA) was initiated by a number of software houses in an attempt to create a functional chamber of commerce for the IT industry in Pakistan. Today over two hundred and fifty companies are active members of P@SHA, thus demonstrating how in the long run P@SHA has achieved its aim to help firms establish themselves providing assistance to help them gain access to potential clients, locally and internationally. P@SHA has the vision of ensuring that Pakistan attains a role on the Global ICT map as an innovative and cost-effective location.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which domain names can I choose?

In principle, you are free to choose the domain name. However, you cannot choose names that are in use by other organizations, or names that for various reasons are prohibited or reserved for technical, ethical or national considerations. You also have a duty to ensure that your registration of a domain name does not infringe another party's right to the same name. Remember that the responsibility always rests with you. Here, you can read more about choosing a name.

How do I find out if a .pk domain name is available?

To find out if a name is available or to find out who registered a particular name, use our WHOIS Search tool which can be found on the home page of our website.

How much does a domain name cost?

For domain registrants based in Pakistan, a domain fee of Rs. 1600 per year will be charged. For domain registrant or their registrar located outside Pakistan, a fee of $15.99 per domain per year is charged. The fee is charged on a biennial basis (two-year period) and can be paid up to a maximum of ten years.

How soon can I start using my domain name?

Once the Registry System has been updated, the information in our database is shared with the Internet's zone files worldwide. This sharing process is called 'propagation', because the new information about your Domain Name spreads or propagates across the Internet. The zone files are propagated frequently, every few hours. We cannot control the rate at which the millions of servers on the Internet are updated, but generally your domain should be available to Internet users within a very short period.

Can I change the domain name?

Once a domain has been registered, its name can not be modified.

Why must I update registered data?

From time to time it is necessary to reach a contact person for the domain. This could be due to technical problems or disputes. In these situations, it is vital that the contact data is up to date. As the domain name holder, you are responsible for keeping your contact information updated.

In which cities do you have offices?

PKNIC office is located in Lahore. PKNIC has no other offices or outlets in the country. Please note that any appointed resellers or agents are independent companies with whom PKNIC has no financial ownership affiliation or partnership.

Do you provide web hosting services?

PKNIC does not provide any website or email hosting services. PKNIC is responsible for the operation of the .PK root servers and thus enabling the registered .pk domains on the internet.
More questions?

NEED MORE HELP?

You can contact us over the phone at +92-(332)-477-1656
Technical Support: +92-(332)-477-2669 and staff@pknic.net.pk
E-mail: staff@pknic.net.pk