Photograph by Paul Myers

Pakistani Ambassador Toheed Ahmad moved to Saratoga in June to build business relations between Silicon Valley and Pakistan. His priorities have changed somewhat during the past few weeks.




Pakistani diplomat talks about life in Saratoga during uncertain times

By Oakley Brooks

Saratogan Toheed Ahmad has just launched a start-up, but it's not the traditional dot-com, nor has it been launched under especially sunny conditions.

As an ambassador to Pakistan, he's recently set up a consulate office in Silicon Valley with the intent of building relations between local technology companies and those in Pakistan. But given the events of Sept. 11, Ahmad has been thrust into the dual role of promoting his business goals and demonstrating Pakistani goodwill locally.

In typical start-up fashion, Ahmad's Los Altos office is not yet finished, so he has been working out of his home for the last three months with a staff of two--his wife, Naushen, and a domestic servant they brought from Pakistan.

For more than 30 years, Ahmad rose through the ranks of Pakistani diplomacy, paying his dues in far-flung embassies such as Brussels, Belgium, and Tunis, Tunisia, before finally landing as the High Commissioner in Singapore in 1997.

At the same time, Ahmad has been what he calls "a technology evangelist." He wrote a book in his native Urdu about the information revolution and also translated Alvin Toffler's 1980 book, The Third Wave, into Urdu.

Since he arrived in Silicon Valley in the spring, Ahmad has been given a three-year trial period to make the local consulate venture pay off for the Pakistani government.

Given its close proximity to Afghanistan, Pakistan became part of the strategic focus on the Middle East after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States. Ahmad talked with the saratoganews about the present and the future.

Saratoga News: Are your responsibilities basically Silicon Valley?

Toheed Ahmad: Actually, we're the base for all of North America for the particular area of information technology. Basically, our focus is on Silicon Valley and all of Northern California.

There are consular generals in Los Angeles, an ambassador in Washington and another consular general in New York.

In many ways this is a pioneering effort because I don't think any other country has this kind of business development consulate office.

The goal is to connect U.S. businesses with Pakistani businesses. The Bay Area has about 100,000 Pakistanis, and about 40,000 are in information technology. People estimate that about 100 companies in the area are headed by Pakistanis.

I-Drive, for example, is headed by a Pakistani that lives here in Saratoga, Arif Janjuh ... In Pakistan, we would like to develop our own software export industry. Technology offers a lot in terms of fast-tracking our development. Pakistan is also still a mostly poor country, and technology offers a lot in terms of poverty alleviation. Access to information is empowerment. It makes our lives better connected and more meaningfully connected.

SN: Pakistanis and Americans and really the world are very tightly connected right now. What's it been like to be here and know that Pakistan is figuring centrally in what's going on after Sept. 11?

TA: First of all it's a huge tragedy. It matters to Pakistani Americans. They are part of American society--about 1 million in the U.S. This huge loss of life is abhorrent to any human being.

This is the sort of world which Pakistan has been used to for some years now. We've seen these things happening on our streets almost on a daily basis since the end of the Afghan war against Soviet occupation. The Red Army was eventually forced to withdraw in 1988. That was when there was a proliferation of guns and drugs in Pakistan. But the international community had kind of switched off at the end of the Afghan War.

Pakistan came under sanctions; we were the most sanctioned country by the U.S. in the world [The United States refused aid to the country because of its nuclear testing program.] That had a huge impact on our economy. The word was Pakistan was a bad boy. So investments dried up. People [in Pakistan] began to perceive the U.S. as being unfriendly.

The government and the majority of people in Pakistan today are with the U.S. in this war on terrorism. But there's still a tiny minority which is opposed to the government taking this position.

We are going to have a solidarity day in Pakistan where I think a silent majority will show their support for this war on terrorism. It's our war and we all need to rid ourselves of this terrorism.

SN: You probably expected that living in the U.S. would be more secure. To have the attacks happen, is it disconcerting?

TA: As somebody has said, America has entered the 21st century. People ask how can this happen, and they can't find answers and this makes them bitter. As long as the rescue work goes on in Lower Manhattan, this feeling will be kept alive on a daily basis.

And there's also a real desire to hit back.

SN: Have you had to do any emergency diplomacy to try to smooth things over here?

TA: I've been meeting with members of the media to convey a message of friendship, and I'm trying also to talk about my mission in terms of business here.

I think we've been feeling extremely safe here. We're heard about the backlashes and so on. But at this point--I have two boys that go to school here at Saratoga High, and one takes evening classes at De Anza College, and my wife, she's been going all sorts of places--there's been no incident of any kind. I haven't heard of anything involving any Pakistanis in Saratoga or elsewhere in Silicon Valley.

I think California already has an open society, and there's more tolerance for diversity here. That makes it easier for us.

SN: It's still probably been quite a change moving from Singapore to Saratoga.

TA: Well, yes. I mean Singapore is about 40 miles by 20 miles in size. And here we have to drive 45 miles to dinner.

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