The Sarhad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SCCI) annual polls for year 2004-05 would further tighten the grip of Senator Ilyas Ahmad Bilour-led Businessmen Forum on the affairs of the top trade body of the NWFP.
The schedule for the annual elections of the SCCI has already been announced as five members of the executive committee of the Chamber are going to retire on September 20 the same date when the members would go to polls to elect their substitutes.
Presently, two prominent groups of the business community are active in the politics of the body. They are the ruling Ilyas Bilour Group and Faiz Rasool Group playing the role of opposition. Both groups have strength of 13 and nine members on the decision making body of the Chamber.
However, since the last year's popular elections three more members of the Faiz Rasool Group have already been defected to the ruling group.
AGREEMENT: Before the last annual elections, both groups were ruling the SCCI one by one under an agreement. According to the said agreement, Faiz Rasool and Malik Zahid of the Faiz Rasool Group and Khizer Hayat and Sarwar Mohmand of Bilour group have remained presidents of the Chamber. However, last year, both groups separated after accusing each other of violation of the agreement.
The last year elections were held in polarisation and the Bilour group clinched four seats of the five contested executive committee seats. The opposition clinched only one.
Since the last elections, the ruling group remained engaged in how to lure more and more members from the opposition due to which a large number of members of the Faiz Rasool Group have already switched over to the Bilour Group. Founder Group, the ruling group in All Pakistan Commercial Exporters Association, which was supporting the Faiz Rasool Group, joined hands with the Bilour Group after defection.
The Association has two members on the executive committee of the Chamber. They are former senior vice-president SCCI Haji Mamoor Khan and Khalid Sultan Khawaja. The group has completely changed side and now they are inviting Senator Ilyas Bilour to all their functions as chief guest.
A few days back, the commercial exporters' association held its 7th Gold Medal Award ceremony and no prominent leader from the Faiz Rasool Group was present in the function. However, SCCI chief Adeel Rauf, a nominee of the Bilour Group, and Ghazanfar Bilour, son of Senator Bilour, were invited to the stage during the distribution of awards.
The five members of the executive committee, who are going to retire this year, include president of SCCI Adeel Rauf, Sufi Bashir Ahmad, Amanullah Mohmand, Aurangzeb Mohmand and Haji Rab Nawaz Khan.
The retirement of two more members and defection of a large number of members has put Faiz Rasool Group in a quandary and observers say that after the election their representation would further shrink.
The closing of the election is also creating speculations that who will be the next president of the prestigious trade body, whose importance would grow further after the assumption of the office of prime minister by Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz. This year the selection of the president would be a difficult task for Senator Bilour, as he has a large number of educated and capable candidates in his camp.
The list of the expected presidents includes former presidents, like Ghulam Sarwar Khan Mohmand, Colonel Syed Khizer Hayat (Retd), while the nomination of the three former associates of the Faiz Rasool Group, like Khalid Sultan Khawaja, Haji Mamoor Khan and Abdul Waheed Khan, would also be not ruled out.
Some executive members are also expecting that the election of Ghazanfar Bilour and leaders of small traders, like Sharafat Ali Mubarak and Shaukat Ali Khan, for the top slot of the SCCI.
Sources in the executive committee of SCCI are of the view that Khalid Sultan Khawaja, Haji Mamoor Khan and Abdul Waheed Khan are in a better position to be nominated for the office of the president as they have defected to the ruling group after election on the quota of Faiz Rasool Group.
However, the nomination of Sharafat Ali Mubarak, popularly known as the leader of the Hatiwaals, can not be ruled out due to the pressure of the small traders on the group. The ruling group is already accused of protecting the interest of only industrialists.
The opposition group, led by Faiz Rasool Khan, is least interested in the election as the group's leader himself has joined the newly established Tribal Area Chamber of Commerce & Industry. Faiz Rasool Khan is also elected member of the executive committee of the Tribal Chamber.