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Fragrance and fear: Flower business suffering terror scare

By Atif Khan

ISLAMABAD: Business of flower sellers is on the decline following restricted movement of citizens due to security reasons in the capital that has become a haunt of suicide bombers, the deadly attack on Marriott Hotel that killed about 50 people and wounded another 250 being their latest strike.

“Our business has been slashed by 75 percent as people, especially foreigners, have restricted themselves to their houses out of fear of terrorist attacks. Panic prevails here after Marriott blast,” Umar Ahmed, a flower seller at F-6 market, told Daily Times.

“Our sales in winter, which is wedding season, used to be Rs 18,000-20,000 per day but this time it has come down to Rs 4,000,” he said.

He said attacks on a French restaurant and Danish Embassy were big blows to their business before Marriott blast proved the last nail in the coffin.

“Our business depends on happiness and peace. If people are happy and city is calm, they would buy flowers, arrange parties, celebrate weddings, and exchange gifts with lovers,” said Ameeruddin, another seller.

He said bomb blasts had scared citizens and they had been confined to their houses. “Out of scare, they cannot arrange mega parties in the open or at hotels. When there are no parties, there are no flower buyers,” he said.

“People avoid getting their vehicles decorated with flowers on wedding ceremonies because this way they would become conspicuous to robbers. Street crimes have also taken their toll,” he said.

He said rose petals were used in Mehandi functions but now these functions had become a rarity.

Sajjad Murtaza, another seller, said youngsters and college students used to be their regular customers but now they had vanished into thin air.

Flower sellers at Super Market, Jinnah Super Market and F-10 Markaz echoed the same complaints and added that inflated transport charges had increased flower price.

Freight charges of a truckload of flowers from Pattoki to Islamabad had gone up from Rs 2500-3000 to Rs 5,500 leading to increase in flower price, said a flower seller.

He said the increase in freight charges flowed from surge in fuel prices. He said profit margin for flower sellers had been reduced to the extent that they could not afford salaries to their employees.

He went on to say that police check posts put up all over the city had also been keeping customers away from markets.

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