MULTAN City News

Govt flayed
From Our Correspondent
MULTAN: The Multan Chamber of Commerce and Industry has criticised the government, saying that it has failed to give any incentive to the manufacturing sector.
Talking to newsmen here on Saturday, MCCI president Mian Iqbal Hassan said that the manufacturing sectors, particularly engineering and auto vending industries, were in crisis and it was the biggest conspiracy against Pakistan because the country was the only nuclear Muslim state in the world. He said that a number of industries had been closed down and unemployment was increasing. The MCCI chief said that the country was facing extremism, the law and order situation and energy crises.
Mian Iqbal said that it was extremely unfortunate that Pakistan had not capitalised on its agricultural strength particularly cotton, to transform it into garments, home textiles, and other value-addition areas, rather they sold cotton as yarn or just weaved course fabric as a commodity. The government needed to encourage the value-added sector to invest more and also tap markets other than the traditional EU, UK and US, he added. “We have very limited time, may be maximum 10 years. We should explore African and Asian markets otherwise we will miss the train”, he maintained.