The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce (ICCI) and Industry has strongly condemned the suicide attack in the Civil Hospital Quetta on 8 August, 2016, which targeted innocent people and killed about 70 persons and injuring hundreds of people. The chamber termed it an act of extreme brutality which was aimed at destabilising the economy and creating further disturbances to discourage new investment in the country.
ICCI President Atif Ikram Sheikh, ICCI Senior Vice President Sheikh Pervez Ahmed and ICCI Vice President Sheikh Abdul Waheed said that the enemies of Pakistan were bent upon halting the progress on China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project as they are not ready to see Pakistan as a progressing and thriving economy.
They said that CPEC has made Balochistan a focus of business and industrial activities as lot of developmental works were going on in Gwadar and other areas of the province. They said the aim of striking in Quetta was to disrupt the pace of work on CEPC, but they were of the view that the nefarious designs of anti-Pakistan elements would never succeed as the government and armed forces of Pakistan were determined to eliminate terrorism from the country.
They expressed their heartfelt condolences for the members of bereaved families and prayed for the departed souls. They said that CPEC was poised to unleash a new era of growing business and investment activities in Pakistan leading to a fast economic development of the country and stressed that government should utilise all sorts of resources for ensuring uninterrupted progress on this historic project.
They said that whole nation, including the entire business community of the country, was ready to cooperate with civil and armed forces of the country to cope with the menace of terrorism because economic development of Pakistan depended on a peaceful and terror-free environment, which is the basic requirement for smooth growth of business and economic activities in the country.
