IGP vows to facilitate business community

PESHAWAR: Inspector General of Police (IGP) Sanaullah Abbasi said on Wednesday that the police were committed to facilitating the business community.

He was speaking at a meeting of traders, industrialists and exporters here. Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry acting president Shahid Hussain chaired the meeting. Shahid Hussain asked the government to allow traders to keep their business open till 9pm. He said the traders played a pivotal role in boosting the economy through payment of various taxes and generated employment. He urged the government to take steps to remove hurdles in way of bilateral trade between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The SCCI chief asked the police to provide protection to the business community and take proactive steps to check incidents of robberies, street crimes, extortion and kidnapping for ransom. Leader of the United Business Group, former senator Ilyas Ahmad Bilour, SCCI vice president Abdul Jalil Jan, former president FPCCI Ghazanfar Bilour, Chief Capital Police Officer Peshawar, Muhammad Ali Gandapur, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Operations Peshawar, Zahoor Babar Afridi, SCCI former president, Riaz Arshad, Zahidullah Shinwari, Haji Muhamamd Afzal, Chairman of SCCI Standing Committee on Law Enforcement Agencies Liaison, Malik Imran Ishaq, members of the executive committee, Aftab Iqbal, Ihsanullah, Shamsul Rahim, Mujeebur Rehman, Muhamamd Naeem Butt, Ghulam Bilal Javed, former SCCI SVP, Ziaul Haq Sarhadi, former Chairman of All Pakistan Commercial Exporters Association, Manzoor Elahi, high-ranking police officials, traders, industrialists, office-bearers of traders union and associations of different bazaars were present. Shahid Hussain sought the enforcement of equal policy for transit trade and export under which one day should be designated for export and one day for transit if it was impossible then the parking lot located in Bara should be divided for both transit and export vehicles.

Ilyas Bilour said the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa business community was directly attached with Pak-Afghan bilateral trade and transit trade in which the traders, exporters and importers were facing enormous difficulties, which have lowered exponentially the mutual trade volume between the two neigbouring countries.