KARACHI: President Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI) Muhammad Rehan Hanif has categorically clarified its position regarding the proposed Trade Organizations Rules 2013 Amendment Bill, stating that the amendment is purely clarificatory in nature and aimed solely at ensuring unified citywide representation of Karachi.
In an official communication addressed to all Chambers of Commerce & Industry across Pakistan, President KCCI underscored that certain misconceptions and misrepresentations surrounding the proposed amendment required immediate correction in the larger interest of institutional clarity and national business unity.
He emphasized that there is no attempt whatsoever to override, dilute, or negate the Trade Organizations Act, 2013. The proposed amendment to the Trade Organizations Rules, 2013 is intended only to rectify a structural anomaly that uniquely affects Karachi due to its administrative configuration.
Under the Trade Organizations Act, 2013, a chamber may be established for each district. Across Pakistan, this provision has never generated complications because major metropolitan cities such as Lahore, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Quetta, Faisalabad, and Peshawar fall within their respective single administrative district. Consequently, each of these cities is represented by one unified chamber. Karachi, however, stands as a unique case. Unlike any other metropolitan city in Pakistan, Karachi has been administratively divided into seven districts solely for governance and administrative convenience, Rehan Hanif said, adding that this administrative division was never intended to fragment the city’s commercial identity or economic representation. Nevertheless, the mechanical application of the district-based provision of the Act to Karachi creates the anomaly of multiple chambers within a single metropolitan city, a situation unprecedented anywhere else in Pakistan.
President KCCI stated that the Chamber firmly believes Karachi, like every other major city of Pakistan, must continue to be represented by one unified institution. The objective of the proposed Trade Organizations Rules 2013 Amendment Bill is simply to ensure parity and consistency so that Karachi is treated on the same footing as other metropolitan centers where a single chamber represents the entire city.
He further clarified that the proposed amendment will not affect any chamber, trade body, or association anywhere else in Pakistan. It does not alter the legal status, jurisdiction, or operational mandate of any existing organization in any other city. The amendment is confined exclusively to Karachi to ensure that the entire commercial and industrial community of the country’s largest economic hub continues to be represented effectively by one institution, the Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry, which has been serving the business community since 1959.
He stated that the Karachi Chamber has always enjoyed close, cordial, and highly constructive relations with Chambers across Pakistan, and that all Chambers regularly work together, particularly in presenting joint budget proposals and raising a unified voice on national economic issues. While categorically rejecting any suggestion of vested interest or targeting, President KCCI emphasized that KCCI would never take a position that could undermine fellow Chambers with whom it shares longstanding and respectful working relationships. He reiterated that the proposed amendment is purely Karachi-specific and does not affect any Chamber elsewhere, and any contrary impression is being created by elements who do not wish to see Karachi’s business community’s unified voice.
Reiterating the broader national interest, Rehan Hanif emphasized that institutional consistency, clarity of representation, and unified advocacy are essential at a time when Pakistan’s business community faces significant economic challenges. Fragmentation of representation in the country’s principal commercial center would not strengthen institutional democracy; rather, it would dilute collective influence and create avoidable confusion, he added while expressing confidence that the business community nationwide will support the principle of “One City, One Chamber” to preserve cohesion, parity, and effective representation.
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