KARACHI: The business community in Karachi, the financial center of Pakistan, has requested government officials to convene a joint conference as soon as possible to address worries about the state of the law-and-order situation in the city.
The Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) wrote a letter dated 20 February, addressing Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah, and high-ups of law enforcement agencies including Sindh Police and Rangers.
A lack of law and order “has created significant concern among the people of the commercial and industrial community who are unsure whether to continue their businesses in this city or migrate to somewhere else,” the letter said.
The letter continued by stating that the city’s reputation has been damaged by rising lawlessness, particularly in the wake of the “gruesome” terrorist attack on the Karachi Police Office (KPO), which occurred while the Pakistan Super League was still in progress and law enforcement agencies were already on high alert.
“We would like to mention that this chamber has been cautioning time and again about such threats but unfortunately no concrete steps were taken, and the recent wave of lawlessness clearly indicates how fragile Karachi’s law and order has become,” read the letter.
In the letter, the business community requests a meeting at the chamber “at the earliest possible time within this week” to address concerns so that world knows what measures were being adopted to deal with the situation.
The statement said, “However bearing in view the current condition of circumstances, we require advise on how to properly arrange this event.” The My Karachi Exhibition, which the Karachi Chamber has been staging since 2004, is scheduled to be held at the Expo Center on March 3-5.
A significant event must be held in a safe and secure manner, according to KCCI, which revealed that the chamber anticipates an attendance of about 800,000 people this year.
