October 25, 2007	Thursday	Shawwal 12, 1428

KARACHI, Oct 24: A number of senior US diplomats met business hierarchy at a series of meetings in Karachi.

The diplomats assured the Pakistani businessmen of their country’s commitment to support Pakistan all through the process of transition and beyond.

The jittery business community was assured that the US has strong indications that the political change would be smooth and would not derail the on-going process of transformation towards a market-based economy that yielded dividends in the form of a robust above six per cent growth rates since 2004.

Over the last two days, US Ambassador to Pakistan Anne W. Patterson and US consul-general Kay L. Anske met members of American Business Council, visited the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry and attended a private dinner in their honour by a senior businessman where a select group of Pakistan’s corporate big-wigs were also present.

The business community of the country is understood to be nervous over the unfolding political situation.

Factors such as: the lose ends in what is perceived to be a West- sponsored stitch-up between the Pakistan People’s Party chairperson Benazir Bhutto and President General Pervez Musharraf, public discomfort of President’s allies in PML(Q), fears of more violence and terror strikes, the lingering case of legality of President Musharraf’s candidature in the controversial Presidential election and the defiant mood of the judiciary, have all added up to create a lingering situation of uncertainty.

“The business can endure a difficult phase if there is some measure of predictability in the so-called transition process. However, when in a society as fragmented as Pakistan, where there are so many variables heading on a collision course, anxiety of investors is perfectly justified,” a leader privately told Dawn.

“We met US diplomats in a cordial atmosphere and the conversation with them was free and frank. Many issues of common interest cropped up, such as businessmen’s reservations regarding proposed ROZs, issues related to adverse travel advisories, problems faced by students wishing to study in the US, discriminatory treatment meted out to textile exports from Pakistan, slow pace of progress over bilateral investment treaty (BIT) and free trade agreement (FTA) also came up. The focus, however, was on the evolving political situation and terror threats that the country is faced with,” a leader who attended the meeting told Dawn.

Majyd Aziz, an active leader who commands respect for his leadership qualities amongst local business community and diplomatic circles hosted the dinner on Tuesday.

“We are often mentioned as a third biggest recipient of US support in the world. We, however, wish to attain that position in trading,” Aziz said who was optimistic and saw a bright future for his community in the country. He saw the level of US engagement as a stabilising factor.

“The interaction of high profile US diplomats, within a week of Oct 18 ghastly incident, with such a wide range of people reflects their resolve to stand by us. It shows the depth of their commitment. Their movement in Karachi also demonstrates that the US does perceive ordinary Pakistanis as tolerant and peace- loving who are bearing the brunt of activities of terrorist elements who work in isolation divorced from general public.”

Explaining the reasons of scepticism of the business community with political leadership in and out of the country, a spokesperson of multinationals said: “We fear that reins of the country will again be in the hands of those self-centred individuals who thrived on loot and plunder, destroyed institutions and promoted the culture of cronyism. It will be a death-knell for serious business if a system of check and balance is not put in place.”

Those who met US diplomats included American Business Council’s Iqbal Bengali, Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry office-bearers and President Shamim Ahmed Shamsi and others, including S M Munir, Saifuddin Zumkawala, Tariq Saeed, Amina Syed, Fareeha Haroon, Zubair Motiwala and Salma Ahmed.