December 19, 2003	Friday	Shawwal 24, 1424

KARACHI, Dec 18: FPCCI vice-president Eng M.A. Jabbar has urged the incumbent president of the apex chamber, Riaz Ahmed Tata, to honour his commitment and immediately vacate the post on completion of his one-year tenure.

In a statement issued here on Wednesday, Mr Jabbar said that the only way to stop the ongoing controversy over the top slot of the FPCCI was that the incumbent president should fulfil his commitment made to the business community.

He said that after winning the elections by his group — Businessmen Forum — headed by Senator Ilyas Ahmed Bilour, a written commitment was give by Riaz Ahmed Tata in the form of resignation for stepping down after completion of one year.

“Now the time has come that Mr Tata should honour his words and vacate the post on December 31, and let Maqsood Ismail to hold this slot for the next year,” he maintained.

This understanding was reached after a group leader, Jamil Mahboob Maggoo, promoted a ‘power sharing’ formula within the group.

As a result of this understanding, Mr Jabbar himself drafted the resignation for Riaz Ahmed Tata, he said. “Therefore, it is not morally appropriate for Riaz Ahmed Tata to hold the post of the FPCCI president after December 31, 2003.”

Under this understanding, the Businessmen Forum nominated Maqsood Ismail as a presidential candidate to hold the post for second year of the term. Therefore, he said, time had come that written commitments should be honoured without a fail.

FPCCI vice-president said that to ward off confusion and to let the democratic will to prevail fresh elections might be held ahead of schedule.