Threatening letters ‘from LI’ worry NWFP industrialists

By Zakir Hassnain

PESHAWAR: Traders and industrialists said on Tuesday they had been receiving threatening letters from a militant organisation in the Khyber Agency, causing the suspension of night shifts in scores of factories in industrial estates in Hayatabad.

They said Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) had issued notices to many factory owners warning them to close their factories or they would not held be responsible for any harm done. “The situation is serious. We (industrialists) are being harassed. A large number of factory owners have closed night shifts as in a situation like this, we cannot invest and run our factories,” said Haji Muhammad Asif, president of the Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI), while briefing Provincial Minister for Industries Syed Ahmed Hasan Shah on the industrial situation at Sarhad Chamber House.

The minister assured the industrialists, investors, exporters and traders that their life and property would be protected at all costs, and that they would be provided with security. Shah said the industrial sector was ‘not in good shape’ and that that was mainly due to the worsening law and order situation in the NWFP.

Shah said the main purpose of suicide bomb blasts and other terrorist activities was to destabilise Pakistan and weaken its economy. The minister said foreign agencies were involved in terrorist activities and not the jihadi organisations.

Shah said the NWFP coalition government would establish more industrial zones in the province to boost the economy. He said the province was rich in minerals, mines and hydroelectric power, and attracted tourists, and that the government would fully develop these sectors. He said the province was capable of producing 16,000 megawatts of electricity.

“The government will ensure there are no power interruptions in industrial zones,” he said. The Industries minister said the government would also encourage, and offer incentives to, overseas Pakistanis to invest in the NWFP.

Shah said the government would establish an export display centre in Peshawar to attract foreign investment, and that the government would consider building the second phase of an industrial estate on Kohat Road in Peshawar.

Regarding the setting up of Reconstruction Opportunity Zones (ROZ) in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and earthquake-hit zones, the minister said the United States Congress and the Pakistani government were working on the zones’ establishment and that they would be set up after consultations.

The minister also said the province was weak in technical education and it would be improved, adding that quality furniture was now being manufactured in the province and the furniture industry would be further promoted. SCCI President Haji Muhammad Asif said the province was far behind other provinces in industrial sector and it desperately needed to be developed. Asif said the deteriorating law and order problem was the main impediment to industrial progress. “Industry and trade cannot grow if there is no peace,” he said.

He said the SCCI would organise a ‘regional investment conference’ in October this year in which SAARC countries would also be invited. Asif said power crisis was another big hurdle facing industrial growth, and also proposed the development of export and exhibition centres and a trade house at Kacha Garhi Hayatabad Peshawar. He suggested if ROZ could not be set up in the FATA due to law and order problems, it should be established in settled areas. Prominent industrialist Ghazanfar Bilour said the ROZ would help end terrorism and extremism in the FATA. He said the province lacked skilled labour due to non-availability of technical training institutes.

Bilour suggested the formation of a comprehensive policy regarding CNG stations and said ‘the furniture city’ established at Jalozai should be improved.

The majority of those industrialists who received threatening letters from Lashkar-e-Islam expressed their concern and demanded the government provide them with security.

Shah directed his staff to inform the police, the Intelligence Bureau and the special branch to investigate the incident.

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