The election process of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) has reached the crucial stage of electing members from both 'A' class and 'B' class associations, which will indicate the strength of the two rival groups--Progressive Businessmen Forum (PBF) and Businessmen Panel (BP).
Elections to 'B' class associations will be held on December 7, and to 'A' class associations on December 9. Twenty-six members from each class and 52 chamber nominees would form the managing committee. The house would then go to elect the President and seven vice-presidents for the 2007-2008 two-year term.
There are at-least 10 common candidates in the lists announced by the two groups for 'A' class associations, which makes the for and against vote counting difficult. Since it is a number game, both PBF and BP would like to force the common candidates to give open commitment about their affiliations to enable them assess their strength.
Tariq Sayeed, Chairman of BP, though, insists that he had announced the list after taking consent of the candidates, would still be looking for a firm commitment from them. Meanwhile, Amjad Rasheed, from the Pakistan Vanaspati Manufacturers Association, who was a nominee of PBF for 'A' class association, has joined BP, and informed the PBF hierarchy about his decision.
From the way the things are moving, it appears that the election of FPCCI President would either be hotly contested, or some sort of give-and-take bargain may take place to throw up a joint candidate, possibility for which looks rather weak, in view of the past experiences.
For the two-year tenure of 2003-2004, the two groups, ie, BP, led by Tariq Sayeed, and BF (now PBF), led by Ilyas Bilour, had agreed that the two-year term would be divided among late Riaz Ahmed Tata and Maqsood Ismail, the two contestants for presidentship. It was further agreed that Riaz would take the office of President for the first year ie, 2003, and would vacate it, honourably, on December 31, to enable Maqsood sit as FPCCI President, from January 1, 2004.
That did not happen. Jamil Mehboob Magoon and Mehmood Ahmed, who were confidants of Bilour at that time and had played an important role in framing the policies of PBF, ditched him and crossed over to support Tata's continuation in the office for 2004 as well.
All this is a matter of record, which may be found in the archives of FPCCI. Ironically, both men have staged a comeback in the PBF and its leadership, probably believing in what Italian political philosopher had said in 'The Prince' that "cunning and deceit will every time serve a man better than force," welcomed them to turn the tables on BP.
On their part, the two candidates for the office of president ie, Misbahur Rehman from Lahore enjoying the support of PBF, and Sheikh Taneer Ahmed, though not yet have announced officially, enjoying the blessings of BP are trying hard for soliciting support of the chambers and associations from Punjab. The give-and-take would take place once the association elections are over as both PBF and BP would then be in a better position to assess their strength and are properly placed to decide 'what to give and what to take'.