Governor Punjab Malik Muhammad Rafique Rajwana has assured the business community to bring all issues highlighted by Karachi Chamber of Commerce (KCCI) and Industry to the notice of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and other decision-makers so that these issues could be resolved.
Speaking to members of business community during his visit to the KCCI, he stressed on the need to take all stakeholders on board in the policy-making process which would surely result in resolving numerous issues being faced by the businessmen and industrialists. He said it would help create a much-better environment. Governor Punjab admitted that some issues remained but the overall situation had been gradually improving and it would improve further through collective efforts.
Appreciating the role played by Karachi and Sindh province in the economic development of Pakistan, Rafique Rajwana said that Karachi was the heart of Pakistan and the progress of entire country depended on progress of Karachi city which contributed a massive chunk of revenue to the national exchequer.
Referring to Karachi Operation and Operation Zarb-e-Azb, he said that all political parties had agreed to initiate these two operations which delivered positive results and the law and order situation in Karachi was much better now as compared to the past.
"Similar consensus is needed from all stakeholders to deal with other issues being faced by the country," he said stressing on the need for performance-based politics instead of politics of allegations. Speaking on the occasion, chairman Businessmen Group and former president KCCI Siraj Kassam Teli said that it was for the very first time during the last 19 years of the BMG era that a Governor from Punjab province visited the KCCI which the business and industrial community of Karachi warmly hailed.
He said that Karachi city, the largest populous city of Pakistan, took lead in all the economic aspects including revenue contribution, taxation, industrial production, exports and imports etc. "It is our right to raise voice for Karachi city which should not be misinterpreted because the rest of the country also belongs to us and dear to all of us," he said adding that although Karachi contributed massive taxes to the national exchequer, yet never demanded that entire amount should be spent on Karachi. He demanded that a fair system be devised for resources' distributions.
He asked the Governor Punjab to deliver Karachi Chamber's message to brothers in Punjab and other provinces that the business and industrial community of Karachi was with them and they would always be with them and absolutely had no issues with brothers in Punjab and other provinces.
He appreciated the achievements of Karachi Operation, saying that the law and order situation was substantially improved due to pressure exerted by Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif. However, lot more still needed to be done and there was a need to put an adequate system in place which would ensure sustainable peace across the city.
Teli also appreciated Prime Minister and Finance Minister for the event in Islamabad to distribute the much-awaited refund claims' cheques among businessmen and industrialists. He expressed hope that by August 31, all refund claims would be settled as committed by Ishaq Dar. Vice chairman BMG and former president KCCI Zubair Motiwala advised Governor Punjab to carry out extensive review of the situation and come up with a critical analysis pertaining to what was available in Karachi and could be provided to Lahore and what Lahore could provide to Karachi.
"We have to supplement and complement each other, besides focus on promoting unity amongst provinces," he urged asking Rajwana to extend heartfelt gratitude to the Prime Minister on behalf of Karachi Chamber for initiating Karachi Operation. Vice chairman BMG and former president KCCI Haroon Farooki, in his remarks, pointed out that the stakeholders of Karachi were constantly being ignored in almost all policies including fiscal, economic, law and order and infrastructure policies, which had triggered a sense of deprivation among the citizens of the largest city of the country.
He was of the view that effective co-ordination among all provinces over issues of trade and industry was a must as most of the issues confronted by the business and industrial community of any province were more or less the same. "Province must not compete but complement each other and this national spirit is the only way forward for a prosperous Pakistan", he said.
President KCCI Younus Muhammad Bashir, while welcoming the Governor, said that Karachi was constantly being ignored by the federal government, resulting in intensifying the hardships for the business and industrial community of a city which continued to contribute a mammoth amount of more than 65% revenue to the national exchequer despite so many odds.
"Karachi needs more attention from the federal government and they must give its due share to this city", he urged arguing that a lot of development work had been undertaken by federal government in other cities but Karachi was constantly being ignored. "We are unable to understand and simply don't know what exactly is our fault," he complained.
Referring to the problems due to implementation of Property Valuation Tables and imposition of Withholding Tax on banking transactions, he said that these decisions were taken without taking the genuine representatives of the business and industrial community on board. Hence, these anti-business measures led to a crisis-like situation and it was a well-known fact that withholding tax on banking transactions failed to yield the desired results and the recently implemented property valuation tables were also expected to be the same. Such poor decision making would only bring a bad name for the government and terribly shake the confidence of business and industrial community.