Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) President Abdullah Zaki has expressed utter disappointment as the business community was not taken on board in a meeting between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the heads of various law enforcement agencies (LEAs) during his (PM’s) visit to the city.
Zaki said the business community, which was the most vulnerable sector under the prevailing circumstances and the real victim of lawlessness, must be allowed to take part in various LEAs meetings so that they could highlight their reservations and give feedback.
In a statement issued on Thursday, Abdullah Zaki said though it was extremely important that the overall progress must be periodically reviewed by the prime minister, it was highly unfair to keep the business community ill-informed and sidelined. He requested Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to ensure that the genuine representatives of the business community, particularly the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, must be taken on board and allowed to participate in such meetings. “We, being the real victims of lawlessness, can certainly brief the prime minister about the ground realities of Karachi’s security situation”, he added.
Highlighting the overall law and order in the city, he said excluding the incidents of target killings in the city which had witnessed noticeable decline, the overall law and order in the city remained poor and extremely fragile.
The KCCI had witnessed rise in complaints relating to street crimes, demand for extortion, kidnappings, phone snatching, looting and car thefts, he added.
Zaki pointed that the elements of Bhatta mafia had stretched their activities across the city as the Karachi Chamber had been receiving complaints from those areas where the extortionists never existed few months ago.
Local shopkeepers and traders were fearlessly being attacked in broad daylight with grenades and shootouts were also being reported from various areas, he complained. “We have also witnessed a new trend nowadays as businessmen are now receiving threats and demands for extortion from international callers. The caller ID displays the phone numbers from Dubai and South Africa countries which has triggered more anxiety amongst businessmen who fear that these phone callers are in Karachi and they have acquired international SIMs. They are using the roaming facility within Pakistan so that they could not be traced easily”, he added.
He said though police and rangers were usually seen deployed at various areas and sometimes carrying out snap-checking but all these efforts appeared to be a futile exercise as the lawbreakers were fearlessly carrying weapons and grenades to threaten and attack the business community. “Police and rangers must be given freehand to deal with criminals and all LEAs must intensify security measures in various areas”, he added.
The KCCI president also stressed the need for further intensifying the ongoing operation in Karachi which must continue for a very long period till peace was fully restored across the city. He said police and rangers must act indiscriminately without considering the cast, creed, colour or political affiliation of criminals responsible for sabotaging peace in the city.
He said the business community was suffering losses of billions of rupees due to insecure business atmosphere which kept foreign investors away from Pakistan, however, the businessmen and industrialists had no other option but to keep their business activities limited.
The security situation of Karachi city, if not timely and efficiently tackled, would keep the overall economic indicators of the country depressed leaving no other option for decision makers but to seek foreign aid, he warned.