Most of the powerlooms units, hosiery and yarn consuming ancillaries remained closed at the call of movement for saving Industry, here on Wednesday, to mark a protest against the scarcity and exorbitant price hike of yarn on the domestic market, resulting which investment of billion rupees in small scale industrial sector drowning and machinery becoming scrap.
All business centres, wholesale and retail markets, hosiery and yarn markets, cloth markets, eight bazaars around clock tower and thousands of powerlooms and sizing units were totally shutdown. Massive rallies of workers of powerlooms, hosiery units gathered at clock towers and eight down town bazaars to protest against the scarcity and exorbitant price hike of yarn in domestic market.
They were demanding ban on export of yarn to save the value added textile industry and livelihood of millions families. However, it was reported that at some places protesters looted shops and smashed the window pains of wagons, buses and broken traffic signals. At many places police averted to resort lathi charge, resultantly, nefarious mob beat some motorcyclists and broken pain of shop at Narwala Chowk.
In industrial areas of Ghulam Muhammadabad Colony, Faizabad, Lakkar Mandi, Unasi Road, Dhandra, Sidhar, Samanabad, Mujahidabad, Hajiabad, Mansoorabad and Sargodha road protestors burnt tyers and demanded of the government for immediate intervene to save the industry and livelihood of million families.
Major procession was taken out from Qadirabad, which led by Waheed Khaliq Ramey, Chairman, Councial of Powerlooms Owners, Mirza Muhammad Shafique, former Chairman, Pakistan Sizing Industries Association, Mian Khalid Pervaiz, President, President Small Scale Hosiery Manufacturers Association, Rana Muhammad Amin, Mian Asghar Gujjar, Riaz Ahmad Gill, Malik Gulzar and labour leader Mian Abdul Qayyum.
All processions gathered at Chowk Clock Tower, where after a protest rally, thousands industrialists and labourers staged sit in. They raised slogans against Textile Minister and concerned officials and demanded immediate resign from their job, instead of playing in the hands of spinners.
Addressing the protest meeting, speakers appealed to President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani to immediately intervene in this high time and save value added textile industry from total collapse. Presently, more than 50,000 powerlooms have been closed and its machinery becoming scarp due to non-availability of yarn.
Another big demonstration was held at Hosiery Market Jinnah Colony, where labour and hosiery manufacturers staged a rally and observed complete strike against acute shortage of yarn, which is the basic raw material of the Textile Sector.
Addressing the protest rally, Mian Khlaid Pervaiz, President Small Scale Hosiery Manufacturers Association, Muhammad afza; Piracha, Lieq Ali, Imtiaz Ahmad, Muhammad Saeed, Mohammad Akram Malik Zaheer, Malik Shahid and Muhammad Anwar demanded to government that raw material should be provided to the needy value added and export oriented industry according to promised in National Textile Policy.
Achieving export target of $25 billion appears to be a Herculean task in the perspective of $7.61 billion export performance in the first five months of current fiscal. They added and mentioned that no countervailing duty on regulation of yarn export is liveable under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules and drawback facility is not a subsidy under the global trade rules and these are legally allowed like an example of Jute ban by Bangladesh.
Speakers stated that the shortage of yarn and its high prices have come about as a natural consequence of lop sided policies of allowing free for all in export of basic raw material of Cotton and Yarn, they said. Unbridled export of yarn has not only created supply crunch but also escalated the prices in the domestic market to unprecedented heights.
With abnormal high jump in raw material prices, the cost of Value Added textile products enhanced enormously and the export of finished goods become unviable in the face of tough competition in the international market and hence the over all decline in exports of Textiles, it was analysed.
PTEA had time and again pleaded that only surplus raw material should be exported after fulfilling the requirements of the domestic industries, they stated. We had pleaded that buffer stock should be created and accumulated surplus over the years should only be exported.
Meanwhile, Chairman Pakistan Textile Exporters Association Khurram Mukhtar and Vice Chairman Sohail Pasha contended that over the competitors were quick to apply halt to export of basic raw material in case the domestic industry was hurt.
By exporting our precious raw material, we were doing double damage of feeding our own rivals and starving our own industry, they said. With export of our precious raw material, we were depriving our workers and millions of families their livelihood by rendering them jobless, they said. The PTEA leaders warned that with the closure of industry due acute shortage of cotton yarn, the unemployed workforce would come out on roads, making demonstration and protestation, creating law and order situation.
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