 |
| Mr Ismail Sattar, President LCCI |
By Syed Sajid Aziz
(Pakistan News & Features Services)
“Due to one of the longest ever holidays’ spell during
Eid-ul-Fitr, the country has remained cut off from the rest of the world for
the whole week having halting all kind of trade and exports with foreign
countries.”
This was stated by Ismail Sattar, President, Lasbela Chamber
of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), and Vice President, Federation of Pakistan
Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FPCCI). He regretted that due to these
long and unnecessary holidays the country has had to bear an irreparable monetary
loss.
While commenting on the long spell of Eid Holidays together
with weekly holidays, the LCCI President said that due to these nine-day
holidays, the industrial and commercial activities were stopped thus rendering
heavy losses to the national exchequer, besides no contact with international
business community for more than a week, which is not desirable for a country
like Pakistan, whose economy is already in oxygen tent.
He argued that if taken one day’s exports as $71 million on
the basis of Pakistan’s total annual exports of $26 billion, we have lost over
$356 million in just five days.
“The government has made it a precedent to declare long
holidays just to please government employees who already do not have tendency
to work honestly,” Ismail Sattar observed.
He also pointed out that due to these long holidays, the
public resorted to unhealthy activities causing great losses, as was evident
from the tragic incidents at the Sea View Beach in Karachi and the terrible
traffic jams at Murree and other big cities.
The business leader urged the power-corridors in Islamabad to
refrain from allowing such a long spell of holidays, which the nation cannot
afford both economically and socially, as the public resorts to unhealthy
practices in the name of entertainment, which the local administrations of big
cities are not fully equipped to cope with such abnormal public activity thus
causing great losses of life and property.
