The Founders, opposition group in the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), has urged the ruling group to take measures to ensure holding of free, fair and transparent chamber elections in September 2005. This demand was raised by the President of 'The Founders' group, Haji Muhammad Asif, Opposition leader in the LCCI Executive Committee, Tahir Manzoor Chaudhry, former vice-president LCCI Munir Ahmad Khan and others at a press conference here on Friday.
In order to verify the record of the firms registered with the LCCI, a committee should be constituted having representation from the opposition too, they said. In order to ensure free, fair and impartial elections and save the credibility of the chamber, Founder Group proposes that NTN numbers and last year's income tax returns of all the members should be verified from the income tax department and all those should be expelled from the voters' list that could not get verification from the department, they added.
They also demanded that a committee having representation from opposition should also be formed to verify the record of firms registered with the LCCI. They urged the LCCI chief to remove the reservations in seven days to make elections transparent and impartial. If the LCCI president failed to take proposed measures within this time period, The Founders would be forced to take legal action, they added.
They also demanded that audited accounts of the LCCI delegation to Tajikistan should be given to the members besides reimbursement of money and goods to the members of this delegation. They urged the commerce ministry to bar leader and deputy leader of this delegation from going abroad in any trade delegation till these demands are met.