Economy
 
Billions lost in strike but mafias stands proudly…
Visits 620
March 23, 2012
Just after a day when the whole city was shut down in protest against extortion mafia, Zubair a meat seller in Nazimabad Gol Market area received a letter from extortionists at 8:30 am with an statement written, ‘you did not pay us, now get ready to receive your gift’ and after one hour two motor cyclists fired his shop and left him injured.

Perhaps this was the impact of a whole day complete shutter down strike against extortionists not only in Karachi but some other parts of province or may be a little reply from the mafia. Police have claimed to arrest so many extortionists in recent past but the crime is increasing rapidly and the fact is that the extortion mafia patronized by influentials have taken over the city.

The industrialists and businessmen of the economic hub of the country joined hands with different political parties on Saturday to protest against the lawlessness in the city, by shutting down their businesses.

Failure of the government to control the law and order situation in the city has caused industrial loss of up to Rs 18 billion in a single day besides causing losses of precious lives of businessmen and industrialists.

The city bore a loss of Rs 15-20 billion under the head of industrial production besides halt of trading activities also contributed more than Rs 2.5 billion in a day, taking the average total to Rs 18 billion, business people said.

The port activity remained shut and due to the closure of loading and unloading at the Karachi Port Trust, around Rs 5 billion loss to imports and Rs 7 billion loss to exports were reported. Around 1,000 containers for export and 320 containers of imported commodities could not be handled at the port.

Mian Zahid Hussain, President All Karachi Industrial Alliance said that industrialists have never been in favour of such actions but have to adopt some measures like this to realise the existence of business and industrial community suffering from consistent criminal activities.

He said that we never wanted to challenge government but we want to strengthen government’s writ so that criminal elements could be waved off from the economical hub of the country.

He said closure of industries halts port activities, lays off workers on daily wages and the deficiency in production obviously affects export orders, also creating negative perception in the minds of foreign investors operating in the hub of Pakistan.

Already the industrial community has been facing a weekly closure of gas affecting the production and now such activities are ruining the economy.

“We don’t want to closed down our business but we don’t have any other option except voiced against this unstoppable crime”, said Atiq Mir, Chairman All Karachi Tajir Ittehad.

He said that said trade losses in one day were estimated at Rs 3 billion but the real victim of the strike were around 2 to 2.5 million unskilled workers mostly on daily wages. He said that a lot of daily wagers are compel to face the starvation due to bad situation of city.

He said that around 550 main markets of commercial hub of country remained completely closed.

Karachi Wholesalers Grocers Association (KWGA) chairman Anis Majeed said the Jodia Bazaar and its adjacent markets were completely closed. The Jodia bazaar daily trading in commodities suffered Rs 1 billion loss on Saturday besides problem for the daily wagers.

Various industrialists from Site Industrial Area while protesting over the alarming situation in the city due to bhatta mafia’s unstoppable activities in the city and their patronage by certain influential said the entire trade and industrial activities would come to a halt if the government did not take the bhatta mafia to task.

The city businessmen said that said the already deteriorating law and order situation had far-reaching implications for trade and industry all over the country and in case necessary measures were not taken immediately the industrial and trading activities could not be run smoothly.

A week ago, KCCI sent SOS letter to the president, prime minister, Sindh governor and chief minister, federal and provincial interior ministers, Rangers director general and Sindh inspector general of police demanding their immediate intervention for concrete safety and security measures with result-oriented implementation but the criminal activities did not halt. Once again they have appealed to the president and prime minister to take immediate notice of the deteriorating law and order situation in the city and intervene otherwise there will be severe agitation from masses.

After huge losses that economy faced due to strike President Asif Ali Zardari realized situation and issued orders for taking strict action against extortionists and criminal groups in order to remove the grievances of the city’s business community.

Reportedly the police and Rangers launched a crackdown against the extortion mafia late Saturday night during which they rounded up 13 suspects, including activists of political parties, for their alleged involvement in extorting money from industrialists and traders of the city.

In a high level meeting it was decided that besides, about 250 commandos of Rapid Response Force would be deputed in the three districts to handle any major law and order situation that might arise during the crackdown. Similarly, about 300 personnel of the Frontier Constabulary, along with the area policemen, would be deployed at the major markets and industrial zones of the three districts.

  • Khyber-PakhtunKhawa
  • Balochistan
  • Punjab
  • Sindh
NA-121 Lahore: stage set for close contest
NA-121 Lahore has been in the grip of the PML-N since 1985, but evolving ground realties in the constituency, including the surfacing of the PTI as a new political force and the re-entry of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) into electoral politics, ensures a tough electoral contest on May 11. In the past three elections, the PML-N and the JI coalition has won this seat. But in the upcoming polls, the ri
NA-250 re-polling: Majority pours out to vote for PTI
On May 19, the residents of NA-250, PS-112 and PS-113 constituencies of Karachi polled their votes afresh in 43 out of 180 polling stations in a relatively peaceful environment ensured by the army. The Election Commission of Pakistan [ECP] postponed polling on May 11 in 43 polling stations of NA-250, PS-112 and PS-113 constituencies due to widespread complaints of rigging and irregularities and
All set to form govt in Balochistan
Polling in Balochistan was not as violent as expected – at least on the polling day itself. Though a dozen of people died in attacks of various kinds but things could so easily have been worse in the most troubled of our provinces. Certainly the run-up to the elections had not been encouraging at all, with bomb blasts, targeted killings and other forms of death and terror striking frequently a
Rs20bn deficit to haunt PTI govt
The upcoming KP government will be facing over Rs20 billion deficit in the next financial budget, making it almighty difficult for it to run the financial matters of the province because since the caretakers took over at the centre they province was paid less than Rs15 billion from the divisible pool. Similarly, so far the provincial government has not been paid its Rs6 billion share in the net
  • Cartoon
  • Horoscope
Generic Cytotec. Order misprostol online. Cheap, without prescription. Purchase Cytotec Online. USA, Canada. Cytotec 100mcg pills delivery.
Buy Cytotec
The toughest part of "having it made" is being able to step back and allow things to happen naturally without feeling like you have to get involved in each little detail... And allowing others to shine brightly in their own right.. This week, it's all about giving others the space they need to prosper & grow on their own... Your main goal is to make it clear to others that you want them to succeed just as much as you want to yourself... This ener