Karachi: Mr. Atif Ikram Sheikh, President FPCCI and Mr. Nasir Khan, VP FPCCI, (Balochistan) have expressed their profound grief and concerns of the entire business, industry and trade community of Pakistan on the kidnapping of a young boy in Quetta; loss of precious civilian and military lives in multiple terrorist attacks and other heinous crimes against humanity in Balochistan. We need to act collectively and resolutely as a nation to stop and eliminate violence, and crimes they added.
Mr. Atif Ikram Sheikh specifically hailed the enormous sacrifices offered by the professional, brave and committed armed forces of Pakistan – in the face of worst enemies of the state; and, offering their lives on a daily basis to protect the homeland and its people. That is the ultimate sacrifice and the business community salutes them for their courage, he added.
Mr. Atif Ikram Sheikh highlighted that these kind of attacks on life and property cannot bring business, commercial, trade, investment, industrial and economic activities in the province to a halt. He added that small traders, cottage industries and micro, small & medium (MSMEs) don’t stand a chance to survive in these circumstances, if not given protection.
Mr. Nasir Khan, VP FPCCI from Balochistan, maintained that the situation is grave and employment opportunities are shrinking fast for the youth as SMEs are the most effected business entities – and, SMEs are the real engine of growth for a developing country like Pakistan and generate the most employment in the country.
Mr. Nasir Khan also raised the issue of kidnapping of a young boy, who is son of a businessman, from Quetta and that the law enforcement agencies have not yet been able to trace and no clue of his whereabouts has been provided to the aggrieved family. There has been major protests in Quetta and Quetta – Chaman highway is also blocked; disabling transportation of trade cargoes.
Mr. Nasir Khan demanded that the boy needs to be recovered unharmed in order to bring back the life to normal in Quetta and the rest of Balochistan. We request civil and military institutions to find the kidnapped boy at the earliest, he added.
Mr. Nasir Khan explained that in order to protect the youth of Balochistan from falling into the hands of outlaws, Pakistan needs to bring them out of poverty by their empowerment through education & skill development; providing them employment opportunities; emancipation from poverty and making them stakeholders in the economic development of the province and ultimately to the entire Pakistan.
Mr. Nasir Khan, highlighted the need for a major marketing and PR campaign for Balochistan to attract domestic and foreign direct investment (FDI) into Balochistan through assuring the investors and entrepreneurs full safety and security; coupled with concrete plans to avoid any such acts of terrorism at any cost and, for this noble cause, FPCCI will be fully supporting armed forces and the government.
