The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) has opposed the establishment of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), calling on the government to avoid changing the status of Karachi as the commercial hub of the nation.
Speaking in the National Assembly on Tuesday, Farooq Sattar said the Karachi Exchange was, in fact, the real stock exchange while Lahore and Islamabad stock exchanges were nothing more than federal and provincial chapters of the actual stock exchange.
He said that it was not appropriate to shift the headquarters of the Stock Exchange to Islamabad. “Earlier headquarters of the Pakistan Navy was shifted to Islamabad and tomorrow somebody will try to move Pakistan International Airlines to Islamabad. That mindset needs to be changed,” he said.
“One day the prime minister travels to Karachi and lauds Karachi Stock Exchange, and the next day he shifts it to Islamabad. If Karachi is the financial hub, then keep it that way” he said.
Endorsing his views, Federal Minister Riaz Pirzada also opposed the move and said that the headquarters of the institutions should be kept wherever they are located as shifting costs billions of rupees. “Will the headquarters of the Gwadar port also be shifted to Islamabad,” he asked
Mr Riaz Paracha has a different contention than Dr Farooq Sattar about centralizing the stock exchange. In Islamabad it is more safe. Matter of fact the factory owners and traders in Karachi are scared with what the MQM is doing in Karachi for the last three decades. Factories are burnt with the workers inside for not paying Bhatta. Does it happen in any civilized country ? Decentralizing authority and function is a better option provided it can be managed in a better way and safe. That is not the case with our system so far.
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