Local businessmen in a meeting chaired by Mian Shaukat Masud, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that trade and industry had achieved better results during last summer from the experience of Daylight Saving Time (DST). Therefore, they demanded that to maintain this good practice, government should switch to daylight saving time by advancing clocks by one hour with effect from March 29, 2009. They said major stakeholders in the power supply sector also tend to favor its continuity in the future in order to conserve power.

Supporting the opinion of business community, Mian Shaukat Masud said that this measure will not only improve the productivity and performance of trade and industry, it will also help reduce the effects of power shortage during summer season because this practice is supposed to prove as a good energy conservation measure. The practice of advancing clocks by one hour in March and reverting to their original position in October is being exercised by many European and Western countries including USA and the Pakistani nation can also benefit from its positive results, he said.

Businessmen desired that Daylight Saving Time should start from Sunday 29th March 2009 because Sunday was a good day to start such a schedule as it was generally a holiday and there will be minimum repercussions of switching to new time schedule. Moreover, switching to this practice will also keep our time gap with Europe to a minimum, they concluded.