Textile Minister Shahabuddin has stressed the need for export of value-added items and said that "we should avoid to export raw cotton or yarn at the cost of local industry". Talking to newsmen here on Wednesday, he said that textile millers should not exploit the situation and they should pay fair return for the farmer's produce.
He said that the textile industry in Pakistan is shifting to Bangladesh to seek more profit. However, he turned down the claims that industries were reallocating to Bangladesh because of shortfall of electricity and gas outages prevailing in Pakistan.
Shahab said that Bangladesh textile receives special privileges from European Union and the United States. Both EU and USA are major markets for textile products, so in order to increase their market share, companies are shifting to Bangladesh.
He said: "Bangladesh is a privileged country as it has been counted among least developed nations by the EU and US. It has been given facilities and its textile sector has been sponsored and supported financially by big economic powers. This is the reason for shifting the textile industry from Pakistan to Bangladesh."
According to him, in the last five years around 200,000 power looms (more than 40 percent of the textile industry) have been shifted to Bangladesh, and this abrupt shift has caused unemployment in the country at a large scale. In southern Punjab only, more than 60,000 families, who were dependent on daily wages, are finding it difficult to make both ends meet due to job losses. In the whole Punjab, 200,000 families have been directly and indirectly affected.
The Minister said that electricity shortfall is not a problem in Pakistan only, rather other Asian countries are also facing this predicament. He also defended the tariffs and gas outages in the country. He said, "This is a major challenge as well for the industrial sector in Southeast Asia."
He drew a perfect picture for textile companies in Pakistan. He said that electricity shortfall would be minimised this year and soon afterwards power tariffs would be brought down according to demand in the country. He said that the government would create a tax-free zone for the textile sector in southern Punjab, which is considered a hub of textile industry.
The Minster, who is also PPP southern Punjab President, said that whenever Pakistan People's Party comes to power, it has to face many conspiracies. He said this while talking to PPP workers including Abdul Ali Zakir Usmani, Amir Nawaz Khan, Zubaid-ussalam Khan advocate and members of national and provincial assembly here in the city. He assured the workers that the government was adopting serious strategy to solve their problems. He said that it was very difficult for PPP government to solve the problems of its members and public of southern Punjab but it would be easy to provide them relief after establishment of the province. A former minister Abdul Qayyum Jatoi also addressed the public meeting. Reportedly, atmosphere of unpleasantness prevailed in the meeting, where two PSF members, Muhammad Waseem and Fakhar Abbas, tried to commit suicide due to joblessness and negligent behaviour of the party. On this occasion, 5 other PSF workers burnt their original academic certificates. Party workers also raised slogans against the leadership and criticised their performance. It is worth mentioning that the PPP has been divided into two groups in Muzaffargarh. One group is being led by MNA Jamshaid Ahmad Dasti and other group is known as Benazir Group.
Shahabuddin said that a comprehensive plan has been prepared to effectively tackle the floods in future. He said due to climate change, floods have become a yearly feature and a Federal Flood Commission has been formed to deal with the flood-like situation. He said the provincial governments need to be equipped with technology and resources to drain out the floodwater to the sea. Work on Diamer Bhasha Dam has been started while small dams are also being constructed to conserve water for other purposes. The Minister said that despite financial constraints the Federal and the Sindh Governments are making all-out efforts to provide relief and assistance to the flood affected people. He said that the government is giving unique incentives to all domestic and foreign investors including overseas Pakistanis to invest in different sectors in the country. He said the foreign investors without any binding can take hundred percent of their produce out of the country.
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