Business community is more anxious to see smooth transition of power to another political government and less bother over the economic matters at present. "There is a need of continuation of democratically-elected governments to ensure better economic policies and the caretaker government should make it happen," said President All Pakistan Organisation of Small Traders and Cottage Industry - Karachi chapter, Mehmood Hamid.
The economic issues of the country was not the "purview" of caretaker governments, he was of the view, saying "such governments should only focus on transferring power after holding free, fair and transparent polls." "If the caretaker government expands its circle of affairs, it may get it entangled in bigger problems that may push the polls close to rigging," he feared.
"People are already frightened due to the apprehension that coming elections would be violent and rigged," he observed, saying such a negative attitude in public about the political system is too "dangerous" for national unity and its economy. "Dealing in economic issues like talks with IMF, World Bank, Asian Development Bank and other financial issues for financial support is not the caretaker government jobs and its jurisdiction," the trade leader said.
He said the caretaker setup would span for maximum two months to arrange polls and "therefore it should not undertake any short term economic assignment which the coming government may abort subsequently". The interim government has to ensure safety of voters at polling stations and beyond, he said, adding that "the caretaker government's efforts should be on making elections easy for voters and contenders". Hamid said that all the economic issues and its way of dealing should be left for the coming politically-elected government. He suggested the caretaker government should only facilitate the elections.