Business community of the city has urged the government to take appropriate and immediate measures to control the worsening law and order situation of the city, which is not only causing losses of property and precious lives but also send negative perceptional signals abroad.
They said that in current deteriorating law and order situation no one including local and foreign investors would be ready to make investment in Karachi as well as other parts of the country. They accused the government of doing nothing to avoid the worsening of the situation despite the apprehensions being expressed about possible breakdown of law and order for the last 15 to 20 days
President Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), Anjum Nisar said that almost 50 per cent of the city's industrial units remain closed and many worked with thin attendance due to fear of violence and non availability of public transport on Thursday. He said that one day closure of industrial units' cause around Rs 2 billion losses and 50 per cent closure means the country suffered a loss of Rs one billion, which is not a small amount.
He said that as foreign buyers were already showing reluctance in visiting Pakistan, the recent riots and arsons would send very bad signals about Pakistan. He urged the government to take appropriate measures to improve law and order situation in the city. Chairman Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (KATI), Main Zahid Hussain said that 40 to 50 per cent less attendance was reported from Korangi industrial area, which adversely affected production activities.
He said that the non-availability of transport also affect the movement of exports' consignments from industrial units to ports. He urged the government to increase deployment of police and Rangers in industrial areas to keep the industrial units operating smoothly.
Chairman Site Association of Industry (SAI), Engineer M.A. Jabbar said working of industrial units was affected badly owing to thin attendance. The units, which were started production in the morning, also closed down after some time as workers left earlier due to fear of violence. There is no second shift operated in the industrial area, he added
Chairman, Federal B Area Association of Trade and Industry (FBAATI) , Idrees Gigi said that industry can cope with load shedding problem to some extant by installing generators but industry can not survive deteriorating law and order situation and riots, due to which workers failed to report on duty. He said that attendance in the units of the areas remained hardly 40 to 50 percent. Non availability of transport and rumours and apprehensions about more violence forced the workforce to stay at home.
He urged the government to control law and order and deploy more Rangers in the city. Pattern-in-chief North Karachi Association of Trade and Industry (NKATI), Captain Moiz Khan said that more than 90 per cent industrial units in this industrial estates remained closed due to violence. He said that industrial units, which started operation in the morning also closed down after some time as workers preferred to go home due to fear and apprehensions of more violence.