Muhammad Ahmed Waheed, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry has said that sit-ins and protests have always affected the business activities and economic growth and stressed that all efforts should be made by concerned to find out a consensus and peaceful solution of such problems. He said that the economy of Pakistan was already facing many challenges and in such circumstances, sit-ins and protests would not be beneficial for it. He said that business community was already passing through a tough time, but again the clouds of sit-ins and protests were looming over the federal capital causing great concerns in the business community. He said that offices of many multinational companies, banks and industrial areas were located in Islamabad and protests would affect their business. Therefore, every effort should be made to solve this problem peacefully.
Muhammad Ahmed Waheed said that business community needed peaceful conditions to promote business activities, but protests created lot of troubles for them. He said that Pakistan was badly needed to promote FDI for which peaceful environment was the basic requirement. He said that sit-ins and protests would discourage foreign investors and affect the image of Pakistan at the international level.
Therefore, all concerned should find out a better solution of this problem to keep the conditions safe for citizens and businesses. He said that Deputy Commissioner ICT Hamza Shafqaat during a visit to ICCI had assured to maintain law & order situation in the city and hoped that the administration would fulfil its assurance.
Tahir Abbasi Senior Vice President and Saif ur Rahman Khan Vice President ICCI said that sit-ins and protests were held at D-Chowk in the past due to which traders of Islamabad and particularly of Blue Area had suffered losses of billions of rupees. They said that if same conditions were created again, they would add to the economic woes of the country. They said that closure of city by placing containers would affect attendance in government and private offices apart from affecting business activities. They urged that government should evolve a better strategy to cope with this situation in a peaceful manner so that life of citizens not disturb and business activities could flourish smoothly.