The P@SHA chairman elected for the 2026-2028 term is Dr. Shoab Ahmed Khan, who was chosen without a single vote against him at the Pakistan Software Houses Association’s Annual General Meeting on September 30, 2026. The result closes a rough chapter for the association, which spent much of the year fighting an internal leadership crisis.
Who Is the New P@SHA Chairman?
Dr. Shoab Ahmed Khan is not a newcomer to the role. He previously served as P@SHA chairman for the year 2014-15, making this a second stint at the top of Pakistan’s largest IT trade body. Outside of P@SHA, he is a professor of computer engineering at the NUST College of EME, where he earned his PhD from Georgia Institute of Technology in 1995.
His industrial and academic record is unusually strong. In 1999, Dr. Khan founded a startup called Communication Enabling Technology from his home in Pakistan, which raised US $17 million in venture funding in 2000. He is also an inventor of five awarded US patents and has over 260 international publications. He heads CARE (Center for Advanced Research in Engineering), which under his leadership has grown into one of the most advanced high-technology engineering organizations in Pakistan.
He has been awarded the Tamgha-e-Imtiaz (Civil), the National Education Award 2001, and the NCR National Excellence Award in Engineering Education. His profile sits at the crossroads of academia, startup founding, and industry leadership, a combination that P@SHA’s membership clearly found compelling enough to back him without contest.
How the P@SHA Chairman Was Elected in 2026
The newly elected CEC members were chosen following voting on September 17 at polling stations in Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad. The committee comprises seven members from the corporate class, three from the associate class, and two on women reserved seats.
Once the CEC was in place, it moved to pick office bearers. The path to a unanimous result was cleared when former P@SHA Chairman Muhammad Zohaib Khan and CEC member Dr. Faisal Kamiran withdrew their nominations in favor of Dr. Shoab Ahmed Khan, paving the way for his unanimous election. P@SHA also announced Wahab Yunus as senior vice chairman and Samad Saleem as vice chairman for the 2026 to 2028 term.
A Turbulent Year Before the Vote
The smooth AGM result comes after one of the stormiest periods in P@SHA’s recent history. Pakistan’s IT industry association was facing an intensifying internal leadership dispute after eight of its 11 CEC members voted no confidence in Chairman Sajjad Syed during an extraordinary meeting. That no-confidence motion was later challenged before the regulator.
On August 28, the Directorate General of Trade Organizations (DGTO) declared the no-confidence resolution against Chairman Sajjad Mustafa Syed null and void and restored him as chairman for the remainder of his term, ruling that the motion fell short of the required three-fourths majority of the 12-member CEC. The dispute was bitter enough that it arose from governance concerns raised regarding an Executive Committee meeting held on May 29, 2026, in which the minutes were allegedly disputed for failing to accurately reflect the deliberations.
The unanimous election of Dr. Khan at the AGM therefore carries extra weight. It signals that all factions inside the association were able to unite behind a single figure, something that had seemed unlikely just weeks earlier. For Pakistani IT companies watching from the outside, that unity matters as much as the name on the door.
What Dr. Khan Plans to Do
His immediate priorities include working with the government on technology policies, accelerating skills development, and positioning Pakistan as a destination for IT innovation and investment. He also said the association would focus on creating an environment where local startups can grow and established technology companies can expand globally.
These are not vague talking points. Pakistan’s IT exports have been a bright spot in an otherwise difficult economic period, and P@SHA is the main private-sector voice shaping how government policy treats software companies, freelancers, and IT exporters. The focus on skills development also matters at a time when Pakistani engineers are in demand globally but local training pipelines remain patchy.
For readers following the broader push to grow Pakistan’s digital economy, the new leadership at P@SHA intersects with wider moves to attract foreign tech investment. You can read about one such push in our coverage of Pakistan’s efforts to bring Huawei’s R&D operations to Islamabad, which shows the government is actively courting big tech to set up locally.
P@SHA works closely with the Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB), the government body that supports IT companies in growing their export footprint. Dr. Khan’s dual identity as a researcher and a CEO means he is likely to push both sides of that relationship hard during his term.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is the new P@SHA chairman for 2026?
Dr. Shoab Ahmed Khan is the newly elected P@SHA chairman for the 2026-2028 term. He was chosen unanimously at the association’s Annual General Meeting on September 30, 2026.
Has Dr. Shoab Ahmed Khan led P@SHA before?
Yes. He previously served as P@SHA chairman for 2014-15, making the 2026 election his second time heading the association. He is also the CEO of CARE and a professor at NUST College of EME.
Why was the 2026 P@SHA election significant?
The election came after months of bitter internal conflict that included a no-confidence vote against the previous chairman and regulatory intervention by the DGTO. A unanimous result was a strong sign that the association’s member companies wanted to move forward together.
Who else was elected to the P@SHA leadership team?
Wahab Yunus was named senior vice chairman and Samad Saleem was named vice chairman, both for the 2026-2028 term. The full CEC includes representatives from the corporate class, the associate class, and two women reserved seats.
