Elections for four vacant seats on the executive committee of Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) is being held on Thursday at Chamber House. The polling would start from 8:00 A.M and would continue till 3:30 PM.
The traditional rival groups at the level of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) Progressive Businessmen Forum (PBF) and Businessmen Panel (BP) are confronting each other at the provincial level.
Senator Ilyas Ahmad Bilour, and Tariq Saeed both former presidents of the apex trade body of the country are heading their groups. The election campaign of the Progressive Businessmen Forum (PBF) is being run by its central leader, Senator Ilyas Ahmad Bilour, while Faiz Rasool Khan, a former vice president of the FPCCI is responsible for the electioneering of the candidates of Businessmen Panel (BP).
Both groups had fielded panel of candidates and holding dinner and luncheons for business community to muster support for its candidates since last two weeks. The Progressive Businessmen Forum (PBF) is ruling the chamber and enjoying monopoly in the affairs of the trade body of the province.
The rival Businessmen Panel (BP), whose activities remained dormant during the last two years has joined the race after serving the business community of the province on the platform of the federation. During the last two years, the local leaders of the Businessmen Panel, ruling group at the level of the federation established the regional office from where they were carrying their activities. The candidates floated by the ruling group are Malik Iftikhar Ahmad Awan, Mohammad Ishaq, Engineer Maqsood Anwar Pervez and Ahsan Rasheed Gorwara. The candidates of the Businessmen Panel (BP) include the heavyweights like Nauman Wazir, president of Industrialists Association Peshawar (IAP), Khalid Sultan Khawaja, Dr Ahmad Saeed and Malik Niaz Mohammad.
The Senator Bilour led group had carried a vigorous and door-to-door election campaign for mobilisation and soliciting support of the voters to foil the challenge made by the opponents. The rivals are attributing the campaign to their onslaught and lucrative 16-point manifesto with the slogan of 'Chamber for All'. In connections with the election campaign Businessmen Panel on Tuesday night arranged a mega reception-dinner at the local Five Star hotel. Beside, local leaders of the group Tariq Saeed, central leader of Businessmen Panel and president Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) specially attended the function and address the business community in support of the candidates of the group.
Speaking on the occasion, Tariq Saeed warned the rival group of diluting trade politics of the national politics, saying it would badly affect national economy. He urged on the business community to refrain from involvement in the national politics. He said that he had always given priority to the interest of the business community and taken efforts for the resolution of the problems faced by their rivals. He expressed sorrow, over the deleting of the names of more than 600 members from the voter-list of Sarhad Chamber. He said that Businessmen Panel had helped establish new chambers in the province for the resolution of the traders at local levels. He further attributed the establishment of traders' chambers for promotion of small and medium entrepreneurships in the country.
In his brief address, president, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI), Nasir Khan said that the establishment of personal monopolies plays havoc with institutions, saying SCCI is the only chamber in the country where traders have been ignored to promote family politics.