The newly elected president of Sarhad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SCCI) Ghazafar Ahmad Bilour would take charge of office on October 1. The senior vice president elected is Inayat Khan and vice president is Ahmad Khan.
Ghazanfar Bilour is a kin of the influential Bilour family and son of former president, Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI) and leader of Businessmen Forum of Pakistan, Senator Ilyas Ahmad Bilour.
The president-elect would be the second president of the prime trade body, whose father also headed the body. Ghazanfar's father Senator Bilour also remained president of SCCI in 1993. Earlier, this unique record was only with Wing Cdr Jamshed Akhtar Savul (Retd) (1994), whose father Haji Abdul Aziz Savul was also elected to the office in 1972.
Sarhad Chamber was established in 1958 with Gul Muhammad Khan, a renowned industrialist, as its founding president followed by Syed Phool Badshah and Syed Taj Mir Shah. Haji Muhammad Younas Elahi Sethi has the record of being elected to the office of the president for four terms. He has headed the chamber in 1973-74, 1979-81, 1984-85 and last tenure for 1989-90.
Those who have been elected twice to the slot of the president includrd Syed Taj Mir Shah, Qazi Inayatullah, Haji Noor Muhammad, Faiz Rasool Khan and Ghulam Sarwar Khan Mohmand. The family of Haji Muhammad Younas Elahi Sethi has the unique record of ruling the chamber for three decades. Two other brothers of Sethi, Haji Mohammad Afzal Zia and Haji Muhammad Akbar Zia have also ruled the chamber for one term each.
Those who have been elected for single tenure were: founder Gul Muhammad Khan, Syed Phool Badshah, Abdul Aziz Savul, Malik Shad Muhammad, Haji Muhammad Afzal Zia, Haji Muhammad Akbar Zia, Haji Abdul Ali, Haji Noor Muhammad, Mohsin Aziz, Haji Muhammad Arif Khattak, Sufi Bashir Ahmad Durrani, Haji Mohammad Haleem Jan, Colonel Syed Khizer Hayat (Retd), Malik Zahid Hussain, Adeel Rauf and Malik Niaz Ahmad.
The newly elected president of SCCI, Ghazanfar Bilour, senior vice president, Inayat Khan and vice president, Ahmad Khan would be sworn in the annual general body meeting (AGM) scheduled on September 30 (Friday).
It is worth mentioning here that the ruling Businessmen Forum of the Senator Ilyas Ahmad Bilour enjoy absolute majority in the 22 member executive committee of the SCCI, as the Businessmen Panel of the Faiz Rasool Khan led opposition had boycotted the executive committee elections held on August 25 and 27 respectively.