The following is being circulated as an official response to the defamation campaign currently going on against Axact. It is being advised that under the Pakistani law any defamatory verbal or nonverbal communication, comment, remark, opinion will constitute a criminal and civil liability on the author/creator, originator, publisher, printer, broadcaster and is punishable for up to 5 years of imprisonment and monetary damages. Even republication or reproduction of someone else’s thoughts creates the same liability. If any of your queries or concerns about Axact remains unanswered, even after reading the below given facts, then you are free to contact directly our corporate communications department at the following email: corporatecommunication@axact.com or our legal department at the following email address: legal@axact.com

This is with regard to the organized defamation campaign currently going on to sabotage the image of Axact, which is the fastest growing global company. Here is a brief overview of the current scenario and how it is caused. It is presented to communicate the real picture to all those who have genuine interest in Axact or are interested in looking at some facts.

Who is responsible for this defamation campaign?
This defamation campaign was first brought to the notice of the company almost 3 years back. After a careful analysis, over the last few years, Axact has identified the following groups that are either initiating or are becoming a part of this defamation campaign.

1. The first group is comprised of some employers from IT companies who DO NOT have the ability to retain the quality human resource, nor have they any interest in providing good salary packages, training opportunities and career growth to their employees. The job ads floated by Axact from time to time and the salary package and benefits mentioned therein are a cause for serious concern for them, thereby creating endless problems in retaining their human resource. Since there is an abundance of small, unorganized software houses with no proper infrastructure and system, the resultant loss of a key employee and other related issues become a major cause of concern for them.  Hence they are bound to resort to such defamatory practices to tarnish the image of the other well-established companies in the vain hope to retain their employees.
   
   
2. The second group is of the candidates with a negative attitude who apply for jobs to Axact and do not qualify.
   
   
3. The third group is of people who are jealous of the growth and the development of the employees of Axact.
   
   
4. The fourth group is comprised of ex-employees of Axact who were terminated from the company due to gross policy violations including data theft, etc. Their only way to get a new job is to defame the previous company in front of potential employers.
   
   
5. The fifth group is comprised of the elements having intentions to blackmail the organization for monetary and other gains. Axact is the organization which is growing at a very fast pace and adopting Employee Welfare and Corporate Social Responsibility programs like beautification of chowrangis at prominent locations in the city etc. Hence is viewed by such elements as an opportunity to obtain illicit gains.
   
   
6. The sixth group is comprised of individuals and companies having no knowledge of the growth of the global IT industry and IT companies operating worldwide. Unfortunately for them, they have only seen IT companies collapsing and closing down in Pakistan. They have, regrettably, little knowledge of Internet laws and Internet transactions and hence do not have the ability to make the right judgment. This group, with no concrete knowledge of the facts, fall prey to the baseless and unfounded rumors that are generated by any of the above 5 groups.

How Axact is responding to this:

Initially, Axact took the rumors lightly as the set of allegations made was completely concocted and baseless, and that the rumors were being spread anonymously through email groups, online forums, and verbal communications.
However, later the management realized that the defamation campaign should be dealt with legally as the elements involved started harassing the 500+ employees of Axact and potential candidates who are interested to apply for a job to Axact. So far the following legal actions have been taken:

1. A Rs. 990 million damages lawsuit was filed against two British freelance journalists who authored a defamatory article against Axact and the British newspaper (its editor and management) for uploading that article on its website. The article was removed within 72 hours of Axact’s legal notice in August 2006. The case is still in proceedings and till yet no lawyer has appeared from the other side in the matter.
   
   
2. A Rs. 100 million damages lawsuit was filed against a local software houses association and its then president for circulating this same article via email to a mail group containing all major software houses, long after its removal from the source. This lawsuit was filed by Axact after exhausting all means of communication aimed at making the association realize and regret the damages caused to Axact by said circulation. Even so, under the law, republication of a defamatory article holds no one less responsible than the original publisher. After a period of more than two years of filing this lawsuit, the software association and its president realistically acknowledged the serious concerns of Axact while regretting the damage caused to Axact due to said circulation. Since such acknowledgment was submitted in writing by the President and the Association showing their positive intentions, Axact accepted the apology rendered by them and resolved the matter amicably in the greater interest of I.T industry in Pakistan.
3. A discovery suit was filed in Utah, USA, to discover the hidden identity of a website owner who claimed his website to be an “independent fraud watch-dog organization” and was listed as a source by the above-mentioned freelance journalist of a British newspaper. The discovery suit revealed the identity to be the owner of a company involved in research and writing business and was probably defaming Axact as he felt threatened by the low cost outsourcing services of Axact provided to its many competitor organizations.
   
   
4. After the above discovery, a US$ 5 million damages lawsuit was filed in New Jersey, USA, against the owner of the above-mentioned website for his strong involvement in the defamation campaign against Axact. Defamation, trade libel, false advertising, unfair competition and consumer fraud are taken up as major causes of action in the lawsuit. Later the same causes of action were pursued in Pakistan through a separate lawsuit. This lawsuit which is undergoing a default judgment calls for the permanent ban on the websites owned by the group in addition to the damages amounting to $6 million.
   
   
5. A criminal complaint was filed against the owner of a web site and forum where extremely defamatory and derogatory remarks about the company and its employees were posted from various fake identities that were created in the names of the current employees of Axact. Arrest warrants of the owner of the website and forum, presently at large and wanted by the local police, were issued.
   
   
6. A lawsuit has been filed and a discovery lawsuit is being filed in California, USA, to obtain the identities/IP addresses  behind the anonymous postings made on some Google Inc and Yahoo Inc controlled communities and forums. As the identities are being received, criminal charges are being leveled against those involved.
   
   
7. A legal notice was sent to the moderator of a student forum for running a defamatory campaign about Axact on his mail group/forum. The moderator of the forum applied to Axact some time back and didn’t qualify for the job. After which this campaign started. Axact initiated a legal action against the individual upon which the defamatory material was removed and an apology from his side was circulated.
   
   
8. A criminal complaint and a civil suit for damages of an amount exceeding Rs.200million were filed against a small local newspaper (its reporter, editors and printer) for republication of the above-mentioned article of a freelance journalist of the British newspaper with great exaggeration. After almost one and a half years of the removal of that article, it was reproduced by the local newspaper in such a manner as to give the false impression that the article had recently been published and the online links are still working. No mention of the above lawsuits pertaining to this very article or its removal in August 2006 by the British newspaper was given by the local newspaper in that story. Warrants against the printer/publisher, senior editor, executive editor, editor of the newspaper and the author of the article were issued to the local police by the court. It was also discovered that prior to publishing this article the newspaper published 2 other articles with extremely defamatory and different set of allegations about an IT company without naming it. These articles were published to attract the attention of major players in the IT industry. The online website of this newspaper was also suspended for publishing defamatory contents after which the contents were removed. Later on, in June 2008, Axact withdrew its civil suit after the C.E.O, printer and publisher and the editors of the said newspaper submitted written apology in respect of publishing the defamatory article against Axact.
   
   
9. A legal notice had been sent to an author of a blog for republication of a defamatory article initially published by the above given newspaper and for attributing the story therein directly to Axact. A legal notice had also been sent to the US based blog owner to remove the blog posting and to provide the IP addresses that made extremely defamatory postings on this blog. However, since defamatory postings were not removed by the author and the owner, a civil suit for injunctions and damages has been filed against them which is pending before court for their appearance and response.
   

Till date there is not a single legal complaint (civil or criminal) ever filed against Axact anywhere in the world. Axact fully complies with the Pakistani and international laws and denies all allegations made in the defamation campaigns.

All the complaints and lawsuits described above are filed by Axact in the greater interest of the organization and its employees after exhausting all alternate means of communication with those involved. Axact regrets the way fast growing IT companies are being victimized by those who instead of raising themselves believe in pulling the others.  It is unfortunate that the IT export industry in Pakistan is way behind from its neighboring country. It’s time to rethink and unite instead of hiding our own failure by criticizing the actions of others.

About Axact:

AXACT is a mission driven and process oriented organization with global operations. It is the largest company of its domain in Pakistan, duly registered under the law with over 500 employees and this year’s revenues exceeding $180million. It offers excellent employment opportunities to the quality human resource of Pakistan by offering highest remunerations along with benefits such as pick & drop facility, company-maintained cars, club memberships, healthcare and medical facilities, life insurance plan, complete career growth with in-house and internationally certified training programs and an enviable lifestyle to attract and retain the best human resource. Axact’s production facility in Karachi is the largest technology infrastructure of Pakistan with a working capacity of over 2500 employees. The various amenities include in-house back-up power generation, centrally controlled UPS system, data center equipped with latest IBM servers, training center, in-house cafeteria, on-floor kiosks, gym, swimming pool, movie theatre, Jacuzzi, steam room, indoor sports facility, salon, library, prayer halls and ablution area. On account of the above-mentioned facilities Axact enjoys an excellent reputation and is the first choice of quality human resource in the field of IT in Pakistan.
In addition, Axact, for all practical purposes, is one of the few organizations in Pakistan which are based upon irrefutable policies and fair business practices in line with their mission and core values. It is, doubtless, an organization where highly qualified human resource is being hired purely on the basis of merit and without any discrimination. Besides, one of the success factors of Axact is its complete adherence to its responsibility towards the society by remaining conscious of and by way of observance of its societal values; and that is why Axact is the fastest growing I.T Company across the world.

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