Category: Trade & Industry

KARACHI: The chairman of Businessmen Group (BMG), Zubair Motiwala, on Wednesday urged the political parties to end ongoing political war for sake of the country.

He expressed deep concerns over the ongoing and never-ending political brawl in the country, cautioned that this tussle has created a disastrous situation for Pakistan’s economy which was already in an awful state and the business and industrial community fears that the situation would worsen further if all political parties do not bother to realize the gravity of the situation and continue to blame each other.

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Chairman BMG, in a statement, pointed out that the widespread propagation of political battling in the mainstream and social media was sending a very negative message to the rest of world by portraying Pakistan as an extremely unstable country which was neither in favor of the country nor in favor of political parties.

Political war was the only thing visible nowadays in the mainstream and social media while the pressing economic issues were being ignored that has led to plunging the economy way back into deep crises. “All of us must realize that our existence depends on Pakistan’s existence. Hence, the political differences must set aside and all political parties must make collective efforts to bring the economy out of crises”, he stressed, adding that it was high time that all political parties must jointly devise and agree upon the desperately needed ‘Charter of Economy’ which the Karachi Chamber has been demanding since long.

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Zubair Motiwala said that regardless of political differences, the economic policies once agreed upon and implemented under the Charter of Economy must remain intact and all political parties must remain on one page as far as the economy was concerned. “Instead of politics, the economy has to lead the country at any cost so all political parties must exhibit patience and take those moves which were in the favor of Pakistan and its economy.”

Chairman BMG said that the worsening state of Pakistan’s economy was likely to terribly affect the exports as under the prevailing circumstances, foreign buyers will be reluctant to place any order keeping in view the overall political and economic instability which may delay export shipments.

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He quoted that today Pakistani rupee has depreciated to its lowest level in the history of Pakistan while the banks were neither retiring nor accepting any documents as they claim they don’t have any dollar to pay, which is creating a very disturbing scenario which might bring down the morale and confidence of the business community. “Business community is of the opinion that all this mess is created because of the political instability and the economy of Pakistan is not that bad as the exports of Pakistan marked an increase of 24 percent as compared to last year.

He further said that criticism of political parties on each other and institutions of Pakistan also plays havoc with the confidence level of the business community and most importantly, it creates a trust deficit amongst the buyers of Pakistan goods abroad. “If all political parties do not understand, the scenario looks pessimistic and could deteriorate further hence, it is our appeal that economy must be segregated from political issues and things need to be brought back to normal in order to save the economy of Pakistan. Saving the economy of Pakistan would be like saving Pakistan”, he added.  

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He also appealed that political tussle and blame game by all political parties must be avoided as Pakistan’s deteriorating image in the international arena and the consequent depleting exports would be disastrous for the economy and put Pakistan’s survival at stake.