Some govt officials are not using “.gov.pk” domain for secure communications over email

Certain government officials hesitate to use official email accounts having “.gov.pk” domain for secure communications, which has crippled the whole implementation process of official domain usage, as revealed by National Information Technology Board (NITB).

In its move to provide a trusted and secure platform of communication between government officials, NITB has developed 3,363 email ids with (.gov.pk domain) covering 26 ministries/departments. In addition to this, the national IT board also aims to reach 10,000 email ids by December where all the 42 ministries/divisions would be covered.

Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MoITT) has received directions from the Senate Standing Committee on IT and Telecom to formulate a plan for implementations of email accounts having the (.gov.pk) domain for all government offices for secure communication.

The Standing committee has directed the ministry to inform all ministries by writing a letter that all official/professional interactions in government offices must be conducted using an official email address.

NITB briefs that around 3,363 email addresses for federal employees have been created. Additionally, the IT board has requested for implementation of official email accounts for 42 Secretaries, 32 Federal Ministers, four Minister of State, four Special Advisors and nine Special Assistant to Prime Minister.

Moreover, several meetings have been conducted between NITB and Establishment Division to formulate recruitment rules of vacant positions in NITB. However, the final decision on rules is pending because the status of NITB as an attached department is still under question whereas most of the hierarchy is composed of “MP scale” positions.