Businessmen ask government to ensure protection of life, property: KCCI meeting over law, order situation

A meeting of city's businessmen community over the prevailing law and order situation, suicide attacks and target killing of businessmen in the city was held at Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) on Thursday.
The members of the chamber, who were angry over the failure of the government to maintain law and order situation in the city, further enraged when they came to know that Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik, who was scheduled to attend the meeting would not come up.
The charged businessmen demanded of the KCCI governing body to impose ban on Rehman Malik's entry into the chamber and also inform him that business community would not attend any meeting with him in future. They urged the governing body to give a call for shutter down strike in the city on Saturday, in protest against, what they said, indifferent attitude of the government toward the deteriorating law and order situation in the city.
They said that unscrupulous element were killing innocent businessmen and general public in the city mercilessly. They said the government made no effort to apprehend the criminals involved in the killings. They said that the high ups of law enforcing agencies as well as ministers are only giving statement appealing public to remain calm.
The participants noted that 13 shopkeepers were killed within 15 minutes in Shershah Kabari market incident. After the gory incident neither any federal or provincial minister nor high officials of law enforcing agencies visited the site of the incident or contacted with the relatives of the victims, they deplored.
Speaking on the occasion, leader of Businessmen Group (BMG) and former president KCCI, Siraj Kassam Teli said that the names of the accused allegedly involved in the Sharshah incident were named in the FIR but none of them were apprehended yet. He expressed astonishment that the neither home minister nor any other official of law enforcing agenesis was aware that Shershah market was closed for last 10 days.
Teli said that there was lot of pressure from all sectors of business community to give a call for shatter down strike until the government held out complete assurance of safety of life and property toi the . He demanded of the government to pay Rs 2.5 million as compensation to the family of each deceased person and Rs 1 million to those injured in Sharshah incident.
He said that whenever he call governor and chief minister Sindh they immediately responded whereas several calls were made to Home Minister Zulfikar Mirza but he did not respond. Home Secretary Sindh Mohammad Arif Khan said that over 100 persons had been arrested and out of them five confessed of being involved in Sharshah incident. He said that there was no second opinion that the city was facing extremely serious law and order situation.
He asked CCPO Karachi to constitute a team comprising representatives of chamber, affected markets and police officials to chalk out a security pan for the city and apprehend the culprits within 24 hours. Refiq Jadoon said that traders should boycott any meeting with Rehman Malik in future and stop paying taxes. Government has no justification to collect taxes when it cannot provide protection to life and property of the citizens, he added CCPO Fayyaz Laghari said law-enforcing agencies were making hectic efforts and apprehended many culprits so for.
He informed that work has been started to construct 15 police pickets and allocate 10 police mobiles and 15 motorcycle to Shershah police for safeguarding businessmen and general public. Sindh Minister for Law Ayaz Soomro assured business community that the culprits involved in the mass killings would be arrested soon. He also assured that he would discuss the issue of compensation to the affected families with Chief Minister Sindh. He categorically denied any link of Pakistan People's Party (PPP) with Aman Committee.