Trade activities in entire Karachi were completely suspended, causing over Rs 10 billion loss to the economy and industrialists due to acts of violence, which paralysed life in City. Tension and violence started in the city on Thursday evening after the death of Benazir Bhutto in a suicide blast at Liaquat Bagh, Rawalpindi.
On Friday, people preferred to stay at home due to the incidents of violence and tense situation. There was no public transport on the roads, and as President Pervez Musharraf had announced three days mourning, attendance in the offices and factories was 100 percent nil. The government of Sindh had also announced three days' holiday to avoid violence in the province and to control the law and order situation.
Business and industrial activities in all commercial areas were completely halted. "Not a single unit out of over 5,000 industries in the five industrial areas--Site, Korangi, Federal 'B' Area, North Karachi and Landhi--was in operation, while over two dozen factories were set a blaze," said Zubair Motiwala, a leading industrialist.
He said that due to zero labour attendance and tense situation in the city, production process had come to a complete halt and industrialist faced billions of rupees losses. "The losses are expected to be over Rs 10 billion in a one day, while the losses due to destruction of factories could be calculated later," he added.
Some 15 spinning mills in Kotri and six in the North Karachi industrial area had been destroyed or set a blaze, while over a dozen factories in different industrial areas were looted since Thursday evening, he said. He said that closure of industries for just an hour results in the loss of Rs 500 million to the gross domestic product (GDP). "So, last one day's losses are not less than Rs 10 billion," he said.
"Our industries are closed since Thursday night and would remain closed for the next two days--on Saturday and Sunday--because of strike call by opposition parties, and on Monday," he added. He said: "We had restored the good image of the country on the international front during the last three years, which was eclipsed in just a day."
He said this was a negative indicator and a wrong way, which might multiply the losses in future. He said that only on Friday the government must have suffered a loss of Rs 2 billion in terms of taxes, while other losses, including production, exports and other losses would not be less than Rs 8 billion.
Political activities in the city for general election also hit had the industrial and trading activities during last one week, he said. "We accept that Benazir's death is a national loss. However, there is need to think about the country, as the present situation would be cause of further loss to nation," he added.