ICCI, Journalists call for making Islamabad a protests free city

ISLAMABAD, Oct 13 (NNI): A delegation of National Press Club Islamabad led by its President Anwar Raza visited the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) to congratulate the new Office Bearers.
Addressing the delegation, Ahsan Zafar Bakhtawari, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that Pakistan’s economy is currently facing great challenges, but frequent adventurism by various stakeholders in the Capital to register their protest, which badly affects the business activities, causes great losses the business community and creates serious hardships for the citizens. He said that once again talks of a long march to Islamabad has created great concerns in the business community. He demanded the government to allocate a separate venue for any protest outside Islamabad so that the business community can be saved from further damages and the economy may not suffer more. He proposed that ICCI and the National Press Club should jointly prepare policy papers and recommendations for the improvement of the economy that should be shared with the government to formulate business-friendly policies.
He further said that ICCI has taken discounts for its members from various hospitals, laboratories and other institutions including schools and colleges and efforts will be made to provide the same facilities to the members of the National Press Club. He emphasized that the journalist community should cooperate in highlighting the important problems of the business community to draw the attention of the government to address them.
Anwar Raza, President, National Press Club Islamabad said that NPC has already organized a successful All Parties Conference for Revival of Economy in collaboration with ICCI and it would take more initiatives in cooperation with Chamber for the betterment of business and economic activities.
Afzal Butt, President, Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists said that the citizens of Islamabad also have rights just like the rights of other stakeholders. However, farmers, civil servants, religious and political parties often come to Islamabad for protest, which affects the rights of the citizens of Islamabad and also damages the businesses. NNI