The inevitable has happened. Businessmen Panel's landslide victory in both 'A' class and 'B' class associations has cleared the way for its nominee for the office of President of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) for 2007-2008 two-year term.
In the 'B' class associations elections held on December 7, all 26 nominees of Businessmen Panel (BP) made a clean sweep, while in the 'A' class elections, held on December 9, out of 27 seats BP won 26 seats losing only one to the Progressive Businessmen Forum (PBF) nominee.
Those already elected, plus nominees of 53 chambers from all over the country, (total 106) will make the house (managing committee), which will elect seven Vice-Presidents on December 23 and, finally, the President on December 26.
BP Chairman Tariq Sayeed said that of the seven Vice-Presidents two have already been elected unopposed. They are Azhar Saeed Butt from Punjab and Din Mohammad Dadabhoy from Sindh. He claimed that the other five would also be elected unopposed on December 23.
It is unlikely that the PBF, with such poor performance, would muster courage to put up nomination for vice-presidents' and president's offices. Out of 53 chambers, Tariq Sayeed conceded, nine might go to PBF, but the overwhelming majority was with the BP. These are the ground realities, and only a person having a lion's heart would allow himself to be pulverised publicly, in case he decided to jump into the arena.
The Lahore group, which had put up its own candidate, Misbah-ur-Rehman, for the office of President, has been reduced to dust. He was being backed jointly by the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), PIAF, and Punjab Economic Forum, and had claimed support of majority of the chambers in Punjab. These claims have proved hollow as their nominee, even on the additional seat in 'A' class associations from Punjab, Irfan Qaiser from Lahore, lost to Mohad Ali from Gujrat.
The way the PBF has been humbled by BP has proved that its Chairman Tariq Sayeed is a man of guts and strong nerves and enjoys facing all kinds of "weather."
Another person who showed lot of grit and determination during these tormenting election days is the Lahore based former president of FPCCI Iftikhar Ali Malik.
Although he was under tremendous pressure from his Lahore buddies, the past and present stalwarts in trade politics, he refused to give up the position he had taken earlier, ie, to go with majority thinking. Being the co-chairman of BP, he proved that he was, head and shoulders, above some of the known, though self-claimed, leaders in trade politics.
Against all odds, he was the person who first announced that Tanveer Sheikh from Multan would be the BP nominee for the office of FPCCI President. Talking to the Business Recorder here on Monday Tariq appreciated the congratulatory messages received from PBF leadership and thanked them for showing this gesture. On his part, he said, he assured that elections were like 'one-day match'.
Once these were over, the heat generated during the campaigning should also die down. He recalled that during his entire career in trade politics he had never been personal and never accused or abused publicly, even his worst rivals, just to gain leverage.
He said that he had requested all his colleagues in the BP to cooperate with the opposition, accommodate their good suggestions and try to take them along so that the benefits could be shared with everybody, irrespective of his party affiliations. He assured that BP would endeavour to ensure that the country progressed and prospered so that not only the members of business community but also the common man could enjoy the fruits of developments.