November 21, 2003	Friday	Ramazan 25, 1424

LAHORE, Nov 20: Expressing his disappointment and anger over what he termed as “sad and embarrassing” events unfolding in the association during the last few weeks, a former Aptma chairman on Thursday urged its members to rise above factionalism and petty politics for playing a pivotal role in the economic development of the country.

Without mentioning it in so many words in a letter addressed to the Aptma members, Abid Farooq has expressed his dismay over the recent efforts by a group to oust sitting chairman Waqar Monnoo.

“Having served in this respected organization in various capacities, I find the present situation most deploring and utterly shameful,” he stated.

Mr Farooq said: “The serious challenges lying ahead of us as a nation in this ever-changing globalized world and fierce business competition, we (Aptma members) must accept our responsibility of being positively instrumental in achieving economic growth that our nation so desperately needs at this time.”

Towards the end of his letter, Mr Farooq has expressed his faith in the “stalwarts” of the business community, hoping that they would take his message in its true spirit and immediately work for a solution to show the nation that “we are responsible and mature people”.

Meanwhile, Aptma chairman Waqar Monnoo told Dawn shortly after obtaining an interim stay order from the Sindh High Court in his favour that he planned to write to his detractors to submit their much-touted resignations from the association.

“I am consulting my friends and colleagues on this issue. I’m going to write to all those people who have been claiming to have tendered resignations from the association if they actually want to quit or is it just a political ploy and a publicity stunt. They owe other Aptma members an explanation as to where their resignations are,” he said from Karachi.

The anti-Waqar Monnoo camp has been claiming for quite some time that over 135 members have deposited their resignations from the association with Mian Abdullah of Sapphire Group of Industries.